Back from the Bush

Wow! Is all we can say as far as first impressions go. We were literally dumped into the African rainforest with a few Africans to trust to guide us. They were amazing, AMAZING people.

The first village we arrived at was very.....African. There were goats running around everywhere (which is a common theme in any African village). The goats and dogs live their own lives with humans living around them. There were no "toilettes", and getting used to mosquitoes (breeding malaria) biting your butt while trying to use the bathroom took some getting used to.

We then moved into our next village via a ferry (with large tractors) where we would be staying for the next 3 nights called Makouke. We were so blessed to have a place to stay that had a toilet and a running water....even if the water was brown.

The first night, we ate GAZELLE. How many people can say that? We had some fermented banas root....it was alittle rough keeping that down. In this culture, what you take on your plate you must eat. After dinner, we had a random worship session with the Africans. We sang in English and they sang in French. It was so amazing to see the love of God, even if we couldn't understand what each other was singing about.

The next day, we started the medical clinic...Alicia was sent to consult and diagnose! while Dan took blood pressure and body weight. Most people here have hypertension...mostly from their lack of water and their high intake of salt and animal fats in their diet. A lot of people have STD's and most children and older men and women have malaria or tchikungunya (which is the same as malaria but they also have such a hard time walking because of extreme pain in their hips). Also, many people have tumors that would have been taken care of in seconds in America.

A really sad thing was to see an 18-year old woman, who most likely has breast cancer. There were so many tumors in her breasts, and we had to send her to hospital for a mammogram. Who knows if she will actually be able to make it?

Later on that night, we ate ANTELOPE....gazelle was better (it reminds us of goose meat).

we went to the CMA church here in Makouke, the church only had about 50 people but i have never heard people worship the Lord any louder! it was awesome to see them worshiping God with such passion.

Riding around here is......Interesting. That is for sure. You either feel like you are going to die or hit the pedestrians. It is really fun though to ride in the back of a truck and feel the African breeze.

this next week Alicia will be working 9-2 in a clinic about 5 min. away with the aid of an hired interpreter, while Dan builds bunks and unloads a shipping container filled with supplies for Bongolo  hospital.

a few pictures from the last few days should be soon to follow.

-Until next time,

-Dan and Alicia