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