Hi Everyone,

Sorry I was unable to keep the blog updated in Senegal but a computer and internet access weren't exactly common things. I will be adding pictures of the trip soon and hope that everyone will be able to find the time to view through them all. I only ended up taking a few hundred pictures but I believe that somewhere around 2000 pictures were taken of the trip. The team and I ended up working clinics for a day with the Talibe boys, two days in villages and doing 3 days of prison ministry. Working in 90 degrees and hotter everyday for hours on end was quite the work but the Lord constantly blessed us with strength and boldness to pray for those people we saw. As I add pictures I will try to elaborate on each day. Have a good one.

Hi Everyone.
I will be leaving for Dakar, Senegal in 7 days on June 1st. Since the last post, I have received my assignment and everything is in order. An enormous thanks is due for all the support I have received on all fronts. My financial support base has raised upwards of $4600 for the trip which has been extremely welcomed not only by myself but also by the team leaders as they were able to purchase more medicines than anticipated due to the everyone's incredible generosity.

My Mediquest assignment as a missionary is quite incredible and I will working in Senegal from June 2 to June 17. In that time the Mediquest team will travel to Senegalese villages to offer medical services to the villagers who rarely receive care from trained professionals. My roll in the team will be to do everything I can to make everyone's life easier. This includes taking vitals (Blood pressure and heart rate) and histories, entertaining the waiting children(playing soccer), helping the villagers get situated, educating the villagers, ministering and praying for the villagers, and helping determine which patients are in the most desperate need. I will also spend sometime observing and helping the professionals with their work. I have been asked a few times what aliments the team will see most frequently and the list is long. Most often we will see people will various kinds of fungal infections(these are usually pretty bad since they do not get treatment), people with lots of aches and pains from carrying water jugs, babies, and food while doing daily chores, people with gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, STDs, and malaria. On a little higher note, AIDS in Senegal is rare and has been continuously decreasing.

An interesting side note on the medical side, what we consider logical reasoning to explain ailments isn't the norm in Senegal. People will often believe that an accident 10 years ago is the cause for their illness and that the illness can be cured in 24 hours since they saw a doctor. They also have a hard time distinguishing one disease from another. For example, when asking a patient with aches what other symptoms they have, they might simply answer with "malaria." To them aches is synonymous with malaria, and not just a symptom.

In addition to our work in the rural environment we will be ministering to the Talibe boys. The Talibe boys are most often from 4-12 years old and can be found begging. In theory, the boys begging is to help them pay their alms(about 90% of Senegal is Islamic) while they attend daaras, the Islamic schools. But more often than not, the daaras act as cover for economic exploitation of the Talibe boys. Their teachers send the boys out to beg and upon their return they take the money "earned" for their own purposes. The daaras position as a morally essential institution prevents missionaries and aid groups from altering its corruption but it is my hope that in Dakar we, as Christians, can bring some smiles to the Talibe boy's face that will resonate with them as the joy in Christianity.

Bueno

Hi Everyone,

I am going to be using this blog over the next few months to keep everyone updated on everything and anything that is happening that deals with my mission trip to Senegal this summer. As always, please feel free to get in touch with me about anything you are curious about.

First, I have been given this incredible opportunity by African Inland Missions (AIM). There is a ton to say about them. They have an incredible ministry and a wonderful group of people that keep everything running smoothly. There is a good chance that I may be partnering with AIM in the future as I work on developing a practice as a medical missionary. Give their website a check, it says more than I ever could:
http://www.aimint.org/usa

Second, a little bit about Senegal. Senegal is a small coastal country on the western coast of Africa consisting of about 76,000 sq. miles, by comparison, Colorado has an area of about 100,000 square miles. They speak English and since they were a French colony they also speak French. Here is the wikipedia reference for Senegal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal#Geography

Given the imminent World Cup I felt it impossible to ignore that Senegal rejoices around soccer. They didn't make the World Cup for 2010(that would've been too cool for me to handle) but they are ranked 72nd in the world and 14th in Africa. Here is the website for the World Cup in South Africa this summer, with the U.S.'s first match against England in 67 days:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html

I hope this information gives you something to do and in case you have more time I can elaborate on the brief information I gave in my prayer letter. I am living in Boulder, Colorado and going to CU. I am in my third year of studying Molecular biology which I have to say is phenomenally hard but entirely too interesting for me not to enjoy it. Well, I enjoy the learning, not so much the school part. I will be graduating next fall and going to Public Health school for a master's in global health. I also mentioned in my letter that I am frequently in the lab, this is a gigantic understatement because I feel like I spent all my time there. If you are at all interested in what I do in a cell biology lab please ask, otherwise it is too specific, but this is the lab I work in:
http://www.colorado.edu/mcdb/winey/

Have a wonderful day and please find a few minutes for some fun.
Mike