2010 Medical Clinic: The Work In the Village

In my last post I talked about how a simple request from a small village in Africa became prayers from faithful Christians. God heard those prayers and began tugging on the hearts of many people in preparation for His response. I was one of those people whose heart was moved. Even though I was unaware that people were praying for Ndjemane, I was being called to serve there. It was a calling that took three years be realized.

Our medical team set ground in Senegal in May, 2010. For Senegal’s village of Ndjemane this was the first time medical care was available to everyone in their village. Prior to that, the only real option they had for medical care was to take a bus ride to Thies, which was more than an hour away.

Most of the patients we saw during the clinics did not come with strange diseases or weird diagnoses. Rather, most of them dealt with pretty standard chronic medical ailments. Medical ailments that could be easily be taken care of if they had constant access to medical care. The practitioners were able to manage most of the patients’ medical needs with the medication that was donated or purchased prior to our trip.

One typical diagnosis we saw in many of Ndjemane’s adult patients was high blood pressure. It turns out that the hypertension was caused from the water they drank. Ndjemane’s main water source contained high levels of sodium, which directly affected them. Most of the kids we saw dealt with malaria or presented with symptoms that were similar to malaria. If you look at pictures on our Charlotte To Senegal website you can see that most of the kids had constant runny noses.

This is what our team saw as we served the people of Ndjemane. Despite the village being almost all Muslim, most of the patients allowed us to pray with them. We showed the village Jesus Christ’s love for them by coming to the village. We showed Ndjemane His love by serving the people in the village in a way that cannot be repaid, but is so valuable to them.

As I reflect on the love we tried to show Ndjemane by our service in the medical clinic I am left with the following verses. We are called by Jesus to not just love each other as ourselves, but we are meant to love each other as he has loved us.

And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. John 13:14-15 & 1 John 4:11

A Little Help Goes A Long Way
I am leaving for Senegal in February, 2012 to be a part of a short-term medical team that is providing medical care to the people of Ndjemane and other adjacent villages. Please be a part of my trip and help. There are a three ways you can help:

1. Pray for the medical team and me. As we just read, God answers prayers and I believe he will answer our prayers about this team.
2. Share these stories. I pray that as I tell stories to raise funds for the medical clinic that people will also hear the Good News about the love that God has for a small village in Africa and how He also loves each one of us. It is a powerful and showering love that every person should have the opportunity to hear.
3. Most important to me is prayer and sharing these stories. However, if you would like to donate money to assist me with serving in Senegal. Check out the sidebar to the right to see how much I still need so I can cover all of my expenses in Senegal. (Here is the link to PayPal to donate to my trip.)

However you participate, thank you for being a part of the February 2012 Medical Team!