Since Monday

On Monday, Greg and I flew from Danja to Galmi on a little three seater plane. At first I was a little nervous, but once I saw the plane and that it was in good shape and the pilot was Canadian I felt a lot better. I got to sit in the co pilots chair. The president of Niger was in Maradi, to dedicate a marketplace, so his plane was also on the tarmack where our plane was. We pretty much could just walk up to his plane. There was a huge crowd of people out to see him but it felt like we were celebrities and they were there to see us :)

It was cool to see the country of Niger from and aerial view. It's pretty much all sand with the occasional random village in the middle of nowhere. I wonder how those people survive. It probably would take them a day to travel to a market. When we landed we were greeted by a handful of missionaries working here in Galmi.

Galmi is actually a very small town. It was given to the Nigerians a long time ago by the French who thought it was essentially a huge rock and the people would never survive. But, the people found water and the town ha really expanded.

The hospital is run by SIM (service in mission) a Christian non profit organization. It is actually fairly big and they are rebuilding the old hospital because it was not built well enough to withstand renovations. It was made of clay with a little bit of cement on top. And with the rainy seasons here, there isn't much hope for it to survive he renovations. The new building is gorgeous so far. They are only done with one wing and it hasn't opened yet but it will be really nice. Much more sanitary too!

The PT patients we will see here will be more acute patients (recent injuries/admission) and trauma patients. And let me tell you, trauma patients here are extremely different than trauma patients in the states. Not only that but they dont always come get health care right away so it adds a layer of complexity to the diagnosis.

To help you understand the trauma, I have been able to sit in with some of the doctors during their outpatient clinic hours and wow do they see a lot of things. A boy with and open fracture of the tibia and fibula (shin bone) because a wall of a house fell on him, a kid who's foot got degloved (skin ripped off) because he was sitting on a curb and a car ran over him, a guy who upset a bull and got rammed in the bum, horrible car accidents with multiple injuries because no seat belts are worn or they were on a motor bike... You name it.

On Tuesday I was actually able to observe 3 surgeries with Dr. Joe. And appendectomy, the guy with the bull horn hole and the little boy with the open fracture. Dr Joe said surgeries here are at about where they were in the states during the 50s. They just don't have the resources to perform the most high tech surgeries as in the states. They also don't have enough tests here to truly determine what is going on so they often find out once they get in there.  It is a good challenge for the doctors.

Today, Wednesday, I spent most of the day observing in the clinic with Esther, a missionary, and Lisa, a third year med student. THey worked in the OB/GYN clinic. It was really interesting to see how they view pregnancy here. Often times the women are pressured into getting pregnant especially if they have a co-wife and he is also pregnant. And, they place a lot of worth for these women based on if they can get pregnant or not. It is really sad for these women.


Anyway, it has still been a great experience, however your prayers are super crucial now that I am more in my own... Without Alison. Please keep the people of Niger in your prayers, they are wonderful people.

Sai Angema (cya later in Hausa)

Love,

Kaitlin