Goodbye, Kim and Heather!

Hey team, greetings from West Africa!

The truck blocking the road
on the way to Beomi

This past weekend was really exciting. We went with the clinic staff to a small village called Beomi. The weekend trip was focused around a mobile clinic program in which low cost medical services and medicines were provided to people living in the area. Beomi is about 6 hours from Abengourou when the roads aren't too terrible (but unfortunately the roads are sometimes too terrible, haha). About an hour in to the trip, we came across a truck that had gotten stuck and was blocking the road. Apparently, the truck had been stuck all morning! It blocked all the traffic on the road. But Africans are nothing if not resourceful, so some people had managed to cut out a makeshift path around the truck. Some vans and trucks got stuck trying to get through, but eventually our party was able to make it around and, after about a 1 hour delay, we were off.

Other Ivorians were sure to help
anyone stuck in the make-shift path

 
We made it to Beomi before nightfall, and were greeted by a chorus of young boys and girls who spent the evening dancing and singing for us, the newly arrived visitors. One thing interesting to note about Ivorian culture is that visitors and guests are treated like royalty. They brought out nice chairs, gave us food and water, and entertained us well into the night.The next day, the staff saw many patients from around the village area. The doctor was able to see them, basic tests were performed, and many medications such as ibuprofen, antibiotics, and anti parasitics were given out to people at extremely low costs. That evening, we showed an evangelism movie at a small village nearby. Lots of people came out to see the movie that was even in their local language. It was really great to be a part of that cool experience.

The kids in Beomi danced
and sang for us well in to the night

This week, we've seen the departure of Kim and Heather, two really lovely ladies from Lebanon Christian Church who actually traveled with Kelsey and me from Indianapolis. They were here on a short term mission trip, and it was really nice to spend the first couple of weeks in Africa with them. We were sad to see them leave on Tuesday, but we're really thankful for the time we got to spend with them and get to know them. If you check out my Facebook page, you may be able to see some of the pictures Heather tagged us in!

Kelsey's our official international
driver!

However, the departure of Kim and Heather has started a new phase of our internship. We're starting to be a little bit more independent. On Monday, we went to the market for the first time by ourselves. Kelsey bears an international drivers license, so she drove us into the center of Abengourou to the market. We picked up some vegetables, visited the bakery, and got some pasta, rice, and oil at the little grocery store.

A successful first solo
trip to the market!

We felt as if we didn't really know what we were doing, but we made sure to put on a brave face and walk with purpose. I hope no one noticed that we were actually kind of clueless! In any case, it ended up being a really successful trip. We were well pleased with our new found independence!

This week, we've also started teaching English to the clinic and missionary staff on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There's around 17 people who attend the class. Neither of us had done much teaching, but we were able to get a hold of an ESL book and make copies for the class. Today's lesson went really smoothly, and we are actually getting kind of excited about spending time teaching English now that we've done it twice and kind of have an idea of what to do!

In Africa, every day is an adventure of its own. It's been so cool to have this experience and be a part of what God is doing in Ivory Coast. I am learning so much every single day, and am so thankful that I've been given this opportunity. As always, I thank each and every one of you for your continued prayers and support, and ask that you continue to pray for this ministry and for my time here. I love you all! Be sure to keep checking for updates!!

Danica

Week one and some

Hey everyone! Wow, so much has happened since I've updated. I have been in Africa for well over a week now (what? wow!) and you haven't even heard from me! I apologize and pledge to be better about updating. Promise!

What has happened... well. I went to orientation in Indianapolis for 5 days, which was really awesome! I met over 30 other interns going to different fields all over the world this summer. Pretty crazy to see how CMF International reaches all of the corners of the Earth quite literally. Just mind blowing, fantastic. Anyways, I met really great people and learned a lot during those 5 days.

Last Tuesday, I departed from Indianapolis and, after many hours of flying and two layovers, found myself all the way in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Gables (our amazing host missionaries) were there to pick us up, and we stayed the night in Abidjan. The next morning, bright and early, we were off to Abengourou, the town that I'll be working and living in this summer. It was about a 3 or so hour drive north from Abidjan on an extremely bumpy road. One thing to note about Africa: the roads have lots of... character. They're exciting, if nothing else. Hahaha.

This past week in Abengourou has been just beyond words. I've learned so much already. It has been mind-blowing. We've spent several days working at the clinic, and, as the resident biology major, I've been working in the lab. Some things I've learned there are how to test for hematocrit levels, test for typhoid, test for HIV, and how to test for someone's blood type. I've learned so much about CHE, or Community Health Evangelism, which is an amazing program that focuses on the holistic health needs of patients, families, and entire communities. I'm sure I'll be blogging more in depth about CHE at some point in the future; it's a world-changing program.

The kids in Zamaka were really excited to see us!

One afternoon, we visited with a Djoula Muslim family in a village called Zamaka located several kilometers outside of Abengourou. That was an incredible experience, and was so awesome to see God working in that community. We spent a few days painting the new maternity clinic property, located next door to the main clinic. It's going to be a great extension of this ministry, and it's been awesome to be a part of the development of that. We've been able to sit in on an HIV support group and even sit in on a meeting with representatives from the CDC who were here giving feedback about PEPFAR activities that occur at the clinic. I've also slowly been learning French, which is a little bit of a challenge (in a good way). It's fun to try to communicate with people, even if I am not very successful with it. I'll get better though!

One of the most incredible things about this whole journey so far is how cool it's been to get to know my teammate, Kelsey. She's really great, and I'm so excited we get to have this experience together. Kelsey is also blogging this summer, so if you want more insights to some of the experiences we've been having, I encourage you to read her blog at http://kelseyivorycoast.blogspot.com/.

This isn't even half of what I've learned and seen this past week. It's been unbelievable, and I am just completely overwhelmed by how blessed I am to have this experience. Again, I pledge to update the blog more regularly. Thank you all so much for reading and continually praying for me and for this world-changing ministry. Couldn't do this without you.

With love,
Danica