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.

Faith Alive

Mission Statement of Faith Alive: To serve humanity by expressing God’s love through compassionate voluntary services and the provision of free holistic healthcare and social serves for improved quality of life.

The three-floor Faith Alive hospital cares for about 10,000 patients a month and provides ongoing care for HIV/AIDS patients, as well as care for emergencies, opportunistic infections such as TB and Malaria, and surgery and birthing services. 

Learning to be a nurse in Nigeria has brought both joys and challenges in these past few months. I never expected to be delivering babies but here I am doing just that! It was some quick learning that I had to do and now it doesn't seem quite so overwhelming anymore.

 Joys of being a nurse here:

-I love the joy the mothers and family have for their newborns

-I love the family support that most of the patients have at the hospital

-it gives me joy to see the work of Faith Alive and how much of a family atmosphere it is

-interactions I have daily with patients and staff

-learning about HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis etc. There are definetly no hip or knee surgeries out here!!

Challenges:

-sometimes knowing my place at the hospital and what is expected of me

-language barriers

But I think the basics of nursing are the same throughout the world. That would be things like sterility, cleanliness, hand hygiene, caring for the patient in a holistic way. I love that Faith Alive doesn't just stop at the hospital. They carry out home visits, have skill acquisition centres, medical outreaches, counselling services, daily devotions for staff and patients etc. You can check out more at 

www.faithalivenigeria.org

The nurses desk.

The ward has five beds. There is a separate ICU room and one private room.

This is the labour and delivery room.

My Family

This is the Inyang family, who are my host family here in Nigeria. They have three daughters (now four with myself). These pictures were from my sister Janelle's 21 birthday in November!

My sister Janelle and my Mama and Papa.

My sister Samantha is on the far left. Also other friends who came to the birthday party. The other sister, Comfort, is away at the university now so she was not at the party.

I thank God for this wonderful family and how they have taken me into their lives!!

Kiddies Club

Every Saturday at Faith Alive, there is Kiddies club. These are all kids from around the area, ranging from about 3-15 years old. The first hour is a learning hour. We teach them bible stories, sing songs, sometimes act things out, arts and crafts. The main teacher is Joseph, who has been doing this for many years. He also has been doing some guitar lessons with the kids. We also want to do some health lessons with the kids. I am not the most creative person as many of you know so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. :)
After the hour of learning we all go to a park where the kids can play. The park is owned by Faith Alive and has swings, slides, teeter totters, a basketball court and other fun things to do. The kids have lots of energy and it is good to hear their joyful play!!
Please pray that kiddies club will be a learning time for the kids and a time where they can just be kids again.

Learning some songs.

Hiking at Shere Hills

Here are some photos of us hiking at Shere (pronounced Sherry) hills on a Saturday a couple weeks ago. It was nice to get out of the city for a while and just enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.

There were five of us who went: Tessa, Gina, Daniel(from Faith Alive), Hassan(friend of Daniels) and myself.

After hiking we went to a small museum. Apparently they random let some animals walk around the zoo:) There was this camel and a donkey roaming freely around! It was random.