AHHH Isn't She Cute.

This little girl came to the clinic Friday with her dad and I just thought she was the cutest thing. I love her hair........its very stylish. :)

Excusez-moi

So this morning I pulled into the same gas station I pull into every morning to get gas only this time I was asked a rather interesting question. I asked the gas attendant who speaks small small English, if he works on Saturday and Sundays. He responded with a Yes I do. I then replied by saying. We don't work on Saturday and Sundays we rest and sleep. He then said oh would you like me to come and SLEEP with you. ME: What!!! No I don't want you to come sleep with me. Gas attendant: You don't like that idea... Who then will you sleep with.

MY SELFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF


oh he said and smiled as he walked away.


I sure hope that was just a moment of cultural misunderstanding. HAHA

NEW PICTURES!!!!!!!!!

I realized the other day as I hung my head in shame, that I had not put any new pictures up since I had been back. SOoooooo now they are up. Click on the pictures below to view more of the same category. Each picture takes you to a new set of photos. You can also click the titles on the right hand side of the blog under PHOTOS, that will get you there as well.

Enjoy! and I promise I won't wait so long to add more.
Thanks ~jess

The Beach

Tenerife

Arriving in Benin

Just Hiking Around

Ganvie- Stilt Village

The Dental Clinic

Babs Dock

Around Town

THANK YOU!

A picture of a thank you note we received today after one of our patients finished receiving treatment. He asked for a pin and paper and after a decent amount of time he had composed this thank you note for us. And where does our strength come from the Lord and thank you notes like this. :)

Line 'em Up

I am very happy to report to you that the stick posts and ropes the security guards put up yesterday WORKED. The eyes line up today was so organized and orderly that it made it possible for the eye team to at least examine and screen all 500+ patients.

I was very proud of the security guards and they were very proud of themselves. I drove up to the clinic this morning and they all greeted me with a smile and a thumbs up. There we no mobs and no rushing today.

Good Job Security Guards.


The orderly line. I wish I had a picture from the past few weeks so you could really appreciate this line as much as I do.
People waiting with out pushing and knocking other blind people over.

and look we even had room for a zemidjan parking lot. How Wonderful!

Eyes... are used for viewing the world we live in.

On Fridays we share our clinic location with the Eye Team. On Friday mornings when we arrive it is not unusual for there to be 500+ patients crowded around the gates to our compound. These people are desperate and in need. They would do and give just about anything for an entrance ticket.

Last Friday was absolutely crazy! I was standing in the court yard with my translator going over our strategy for how we were going to get through all the eye patients to find 45 dental patients... Naomi ( my roommate) was standing in the center of the court yard screening people. Things were calm inside the gate however things out side were not so calm.... the security guards decided they'd had enough so they opened the gates and at that very moment about 450 people came rushing into our compound. It was CRAZY! I had never seen anything like it before. I started yelling things in French that I didn't even know I knew how to say. I guess they understood me they listened to me.... anyway after all 450 people were inside Naomi's day volunteer came up with this brilliant idea. He said well lets go outside and start handing out tickets and then they will all ran back out... so they did and all 450 people rushed back outside the gates. I turned around at one point to see what my team was doing and they were taking pictures and videos of the event.

As I glance back at that moment now I laugh at how things like this don't happen at home, but I can tell you one thing my eye our now opened and my vision is clear. As the herds of people were rushing in there were people who were flat out bawling, there were young people carrying there elderly relatives in on their backs, there were little children that were being ran over by adults, there were ladies pushing and shoving other ladies, there were men yelling. It was like a bull race. I thought to myself how does it feel to have such a need that this is the result. There was a point during the crazy rush were I felt like time was being frozen and God was showing me the severity of the needs here.

Anyway today before we left our security guards came to me and asked if it was ok if they try to set up rope and form lines in preparation for tomorrow. I agreed with them that that was an excellent idea. Before we left I walked outside to see the progress. While I was out there I spotted about 20-25 people on the other side of the road: some lying down in the dirt, some standing, some sitting. I asked what are those people doing over there... and one of the security guards told me that was the beginning of the eye line for tomorrow. He said they have been here since 2:30.

Can you imagine sitting and sleeping outside the gates of a clinic for 17 plus hours?

Eyes are used to view the world... and eye problems are huge needs here. I'ts Obvious.

The guards forming the line with rope and sticks outside our clinic walls.

The 20+ people who were in line already @ 2:30 in the afternoon the day before the clinic opens

The belongings of the people waiting all lined up, marking there place in line.

Faces of the Dental Team

Stupid Mango Sap

Saturday I woke up with huge, swollen lips and my roommate said it looked like I had received botox injections. Throughout Saturday and all day Sunday I started to develop really bad sores and a nasty rash around my mouth and on my lips. I had no CLUE what was going on and I spent a few hours on line last night researching all the possibilities. Well today the mystery was solved.

Come to find out Friday night I ate a mango that I had bought off the street and forgot to wash it before I ate it. Apparently the outside skin and sap of a mango contains a chemical called Urushiol. That same chemical is also found in the sap of poison ivy, sumac, and oak.

Soooo I have poison mango haha on my lips. It is starting to crust up and slowly go away, but it hurt so bad last night that I smeared my lips with topical numbing jelly from the dental clinic to momentarily take away the pain.

I went to the doctor today and he prescribed me cream to help heal my sore funny looking lips.

So for the future..... Wash your mango's.... and don't let the outside skin touch your lips.

I always learn the hard way. :)

Movie Reviews

Today my roommates and I decided to do NOTHING. It was Fantastic. I slept in, cleaned our cabin, did my laundry and watched 4 movies; 2 of which were REALLY good and 2 that were not so good. The two that were good our worthy of the post and I wanted to get the titles out to you so you can rent them. They are so worth your time.


Disclaimer: Movies are listed in the order in which they were watched not in ranking order.

Nafas is a reporter who was born in Afghanistan, but fled with her family to Canada when she was a child. However, her sister wasn't so lucky; she lost her legs to a land mine while young, and when Nafas and her family left the country, her sister was accidentally left behind. Not the best movie in the world. There are a few things that I took away from this film, but I would not recommend it.

A cheesy "Lifetime" movie about 2 bakers who fall in love while baking desserts for the Golden Whisk competition. NOT GOOD 1 star.

In April 1994, after the airplane of the Hutu President of Rwanda is shot down, the Hutu militias slaughter the Tutsi population. In the Ecole Technique Officielle, the Catholic priest Christopher and the idealistic English teacher Joe Connor lodge two thousand and five hundred Rwandans refugees, under the protection of the Belgian UN force and under siege by Hutu militia. When the Tutsi refugees are abandoned by the UN, they are murdered by the extremist militia. Written by Claudio Carvalho. Based on a true story. An exhausted Catholic priest (Hurt) and a young idealistic English teacher (Dancy) finds themselves caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. They must now choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred or to flee for safety. EXCELLENT! Must watch. Gave such a good depiction of war torn Africa as I know it. So much of it reminded me of Liberia. Be prepared to not be able to use the excuse of "I just didn't know that is going on"... anymore.

Another good one!!!!!

Admist the apparent growing prosperity of India, there is a dark underbelly of poverty of another side of the nation that is little known. This film is a chronicle of filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's efforts to show that world of Calcutta's red light district. To do that, they inspired a special group of children of the prostitutes of the area to photograph the most reluctant subjects of it. As the kids excel in their new found art, the filmmakers struggle to help them have a chance for a better life away from the miserable poverty that threatens to crush their dreams. Written by Kenneth Chisholm

My favorite line in the entire movie qutoed from a 12 year old.... even if I was poor I would still be happy. One has to accept life as being sad and painful. That is all.

Walking through the Forest.

Yesterday a group of us took a stroll through Niaouli Forest. According to our guide Innocence, this is a forest that is preserved by the government and used by researcher to explore new natural health remedies.

This is what we walked through......

Ants and cows were about the only form of moving creatures we encountered.

The group minus a few.
We found some kids along the way.

Adam and his buddy!

Bananas Anyone?!?

Putting my Running Shoes on!

I was driving home from work Monday and noticed a billboard that was advertising the 2nd semi- Annual Marathon taking place right here in Cotonou. Once I arrived back on board I talked to a few people and we have decided to participate. Now usually one would prepare for this for months before attempting a race of such difficulty. However we don't have months we have 10 days. The race is March 14 and a group of us from the ship will be running the half Marathon. 13 miles. We figured this would make for a good memories as well as a good pictures. Personally I am hoping to get a souvenir t-shirt out of it as well. Carmen and I have a goal of finishing in 2 1/2 hrs, but I was doing a few calculations in my head and I am thinking 3 hrs is more like it. haha

This will be my first half marathon and I will be running it in 90 degree weather with 100% humidity. I can't think of a better way to spend next Saturday than running through the streets of Benin.

This is a picture of my roommate Carmen and I after a hard night of training.!.

My life of Saturdays.......

This is where I spent my Saturday!.!

Who wouldn't want every day to be Saturday if this is where they were to spend it.