Dry and Dusty...

In Sierra Leone, the dry season lasts from December to May. When I returned January 1, I found everything much dryer than I left it! As we traveled up country to Taiama there were small bush fires along the road. It is so dry that the grasses catch fire. These fires hardly ever disturb villages. They naturally go out just as the start. During the dry season, there is a time called harmattan. This is when cool, dry winds blow in from the Sahara Desert. These winds carry the dust and dirt, and sometimes the air is so dusty that it is difficult to breathe. Many children and adults have respiratory problems from breathing in the dust. I need to comment on all the emails I have received asking if I saw David Beckham while he was in Sierra Leone. Of course I did! I went and visited Makeni with him, and that's where I got this picture!!!! Okay, just kidding. I tried to track him down, but the closest I got to him was this picture from the internet. Beckham was in Makeni at a UNICEF supported therapeutic feeding centre. This is a picture of him with a child being weighed. GOTCHA!

Production Time!

I'm no Rachel Ray...

The mixer in action! 65 kilograms packed and ready for Taiama!

Last week on the road to Taiama

I haven't updated what has been going on with the production/storage room in a while. As I explained in my newsletter, I have a mixer! It was an exciting accomplishment that only took 3 MONTHS! Over the month of December, Mike and I visited Dr. Manary, Zach, and Micah in St. Louis. We practiced making batches of the supplement using different percentages of the ingredients to find just the right consistency for the mixture. Since I have been back, I have been mixing batches left and right with a lot of help from Lindsay. When the team of missionaries were here, we ran into a problem. The CMV (mineral-vitamin complex) ran out! We ended up crushing children's vitamins and making due with that. A couple of days ago Lindsay and I went by UNICEF and explained the problem of not having any CMV. We asked to borrow one tin of it until we could get more. The nutritionist at UNICEF had a nearby government hospital donate 2 cases (12 tins) of CMV to the nutrition program! What a blessing! This week we are working on alternative ways of making groundnut paste, using a combination of palm oil and vegetable oil for the supplement, and having a metal table made for the mixer. The production room is coming right along...

Survival is Tough in Sierra Leone

Check out this article that was forwarded to me by Dr. Joe Geary. It does an excellent job of explaining the state of healthcare in Sierra Leone and the effects the lack of healthcare has on mothers, infants, and children.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/7202278.stm

Just wanted to post a quick update....
Lindsay and I made65 kilograms of the peanut butter supplement yesterday. Whew! It is so nice to have her here to help! This afternoon we are leaving for Taiama. The nutrition clinic will be going on Friday, and Saturday we will be working on the supplementary feeding kitchen. We will also be doing a follow-up visit to the Bo hospital to check on the patients that were referred there last week by the VIM medical team.

I really will be posting pictures soon! :)

VIM Trip 2008

VIM trip 2008 to Sierra Leone is ending as I am blogging. All my new missionary friends have departed from the Gatwick airport and are on their way home. This week I had the opportunity to see what an impact 16 people could have on the village of Taiama. So here is a brief report on what the team did during their time in Taiama. Taiama farms had some important improvements made. The agriculture team checked on all the livestock, bought some essential tools for the farmers, and obtained a pump to begin an irrigation project. The construction team had some barriers this week, James Ross even hit one with his head! They were able to do a lot of painting and get supplies going for reconstructing the village's United Methodist Church. This will allow the people of Taiama to get a lot done on the church themselves. The medical team saw and treated 406 patients during the week! The pharmacy worked so hard, and most days finished working last trying to keep up with the patient load. As we saw a huge number of patients receive the medical care they desperately needed, we also saw the number of patients never decrease. This showed us what a need for medical care the community has. The Peanut Butter Project made four batches of the supplement, and I had to refer others to come back to the clinic when I return on January 18th. We were able to further train the local healthcare worker, Lucy, on more specifics of the program such as how to distinguish a healthy child from a malnourished child based on physical cues. Our photographer, Tony, despite feeling under the weather by the end never stopped snapping! Thanks to him our trip is well documented. As you can see, we had a busy but productive trip, Praise God! I also praise God that the team trip ended when it did, because I think the rice and African sun was making some of our beloved team members looney! They had begun to make animal masks for eachother and that is all I have to say about that! You can use your imagination! Thank you for your prayers and support for the VIM 2008 team. I should have pictures of the trip up as soon as possible! Lindsay and I are here in Freetown going strong and ready to get back to work Monday morning.

Back in Action!

Happy New Year! The Paris UMC Volunteers in Mission team and I brought in the new year flying somewhere between Atlanta and London and arrived in Freetown last night! It is wonderful to be back and have the opportunity to share the experience with so many awesome people. There are so many things I missed about Sierra Leone (pretty much everything but the monkey meat). The team and I are headed up country to Taiama for a week. The team will work in many different areas of outreach including a medical clinic, agriculture, constrution, and nutrition. It will be amazing to see what the Taiama community and VIM team will learn from eachother as we come together as the Body of Christ.