Good-bye!!

The past year in Nigeria has been an amazing year. I have been so blessed by the great friends I have made. Leaving them is hard but I know they are in Gods hands and I will forever hold them in my heart.

Friends are Friends Forever- Michael W. Smith

Packing up the dreams God planted

In the fertile soil of you

I can't believe the hopes He's granted

Means a chapter of your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

And with the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show

We'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

Community Outreach

For the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to go along on some outreaches in and around Jos. Faith Alive is doing these outreaches and the goal is to test 4000 pregnant women for HIV by September. We also take blood pressures in these communities. It has been great to see the community aspect of what Faith Alive does. Because with healthcare you need to go to the people because many times they won't come to you.

This is the red bus we always travel in. These are some Faith Alive staff who  run the outreaches.
In the picture: Isaiah, me, Timothy, Tessa (fellow SALTer)

                            Break time under the shade. Sometimes we do testing outside, in clinics or churches.

And sometimes we try the local food. This is local yogurt or "no-no" as they call it here. Ladies walk around with the yogurt in a pail and then add sugar and millet to the bowl of yogurt as you want to eat it. It definitely had a more " barnyard" taste and was a bit more sour but it was alright to eat some of it

Hope

Where can we find hope in the midst of pain, suffering and violence? This is a question I have been asking myself these past two weeks after the events here in Jos. For anyone who wasn't aware, on May 20 there were two bomb blasts in Jos and over 118 people were killed that day. Another bomb also went off the following Saturday in Jos.
Where is hope in the midst of this suffering? I find hope in knowing that Christians and Muslims are working together to teach and promote peace. I find hope that neighbours are helping one another during this time. And I find hope in God because I cannot go where God is not.

Please check out MCC's news release about the happenings in Jos:

http://www.mcc.org/stories/news/bombing-aftermath-mcc-nigeria-sees-signs-peace

Baby #20

This was the 20th baby I have delivered in the nine months since I have been in Nigeria at Faith Alive. There is always much joy when it is a safe delivery because there is a high mother mortality rate here. Approximately 800 deaths/100,000 live births.( UNICEF). This is a staggering number so there is much joy when the delivery is safe!

It was a baby girl!

Questions that I have been asked....

I have been in Nigeria for about eight months now. I have been asked many different questions during this time. Here are some of them:
-"Are you married?" This is the number one question I get here. Depending on where I am I will answer differently. In the taxi I will say yes I am married....hopefully then they won't ask me to go on a date with them or for them to ask me I'm not married and then start listing why I should marry them

-I get asked for my phone number a lot by many different people. If I don't know the people I tell them to come to Faith Alive to talk to me.

-"Are you from Kenya?" Yes, a guy asked me this. "No" I said. ( In my head I was thinking "Do I look like I'm from Kenya?")

-"Is that your real hair?" asked as I was walking down the street.

-"Are you from the United States?" "Nope, I'm from Canada," I reply. Then the question is, "Canada is in Europe right?" Or " Canada is by California right?" "No!!" And then I try to explain where Canada is in the world.

-" You Canadians love to eat chicken right?" This question was in response to having told someone I was from Canada and this was their impression of Canada. :)

-"What has brought you to Nigeria?" many people ask. This question is really great because then i can share with them the work that Faith Alive is doing and the work that Mennonite Central Committee is doing in Nigeria.

Wedding

The wedding of CID and Naomi. CID is a staff member of MCC and has become like a brother here to us.

Me, Tessa, Gina

Lots of dancing throughout the day.

The happy couple and the wedding cake.

Assop Falls

On our way back from Abuja in January we stopped at Assop Falls. This picture is taken during the dry season so in rainy season there would be much more water.

Pictures tell a thousand words....

The above two pictures were taken at Faith Alive. Faith Alive is very involved in the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) for mothers who are HIV+.  So at 6 weeks babies and mothers need to come for a checkup. At this point we weigh and measure the babies and refer them to a doctor if there are problems. After that babies come back every two months for follow up. These babies were very happy and full of life on this day and it gave me joy to know that they were doing so well.

This is the MCC Nigeria team and their families at our retreat in  December. They have  been a huge blessing and  encouragement this year. I am very thankful to God that our paths crossed this year.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! Yes I have not posted anything for a while so I will try to do more this year. Time has been going really fast here it seems. It feels like just a short while ago that I got on the plane to come to Nigeria. I spent a good Christmas and new year here with my host family. It was great to see some of the traditions that they have. On New Years Eve we stayed up till midnight and then did some devotions and singing, so that was nice. In December we also had an MCC retreat. It was nice to relax from work for a week and to get to know the MCC staff and their families better. Since the New Year I have been busy at work. There is always lots to do and learn.

In December we also had a Christmas Carol at work. Each department got a different song to sing and were supposed to dress up. We, as nurses, sang "O Holy Night" and dressed up like shepards. It was tons of fun singing with colleagues!! Below are some pics from the carol.