Needed another post...school started and I got to go to a village and look at eyes!

I know...seems crazy after being so negligent. It has been a busy few days, so I thought I would post some pictures and as I comment on them, you can get a feel for what has been going on. I also got around to taking more pictures of "landscape" so I thought I would post them too.

Thank you for joining us in our travels and for praying for us! I hope to register Nathan in pre-school in the next few days and he will likely start Sept 5 for half-days. He has been extra-clingy lately so prayer for that would be greatly appreciated! Then Rog and I can start our language classes! I am still amazed at how well we are all adapting, and I know we couldn't be doing this without God's Grace and your prayers! THANK YOU!

These are typical roadside stores...they sell everything and have all sorts of services available (may not have great workmanship or quality of stuff...but they can repair just about anything here...)

Jaelyn's first day of grade 2

The kids waiting outside of the house in front of our guard's hut. Each of our houses have guards and we build them huts so that they are shaded from the intense sun...the office where we stay is the same...so to all of those that are worried about our safety...we are guarded 24/7!!!!

Jaelyn sitting in her desk on the first day of school. She is attending Sahel Academy  (an international Christian school based on the American school system) and has loved her first 2 days. We get to carpool with teammates so it is an added bonus. Only 10 kids in her class including one of our teammate's girls and a little Korean girl named Yuna Kim! (no, not the skater)

Fortunately, it has been cooler from the rains...unfortunately, the mosquitoes also have been out. I forgot to put repellent on the kids one night :( boo...they have been up in the middle of the night so itchy. Thankfully, we are all on anti-malaria pills and will hopefully avoid getting malaria from the itchy bites! Oh, a special thank you to my mother-in-law for sending me here with a bottle of tiger balm that she happened to have with her when she visited us in Edmonton! It has helped alleviate some of the brutality. These bites seem much more itchy than bites from mosquitoes in Canada...and we had that bad infestation in Edmonton this year! African mosquitoes are really stealthy though! You can't feel them or see them!

This is a bad shot, but it is of the Niger river and an attempt to show you the laundry that is being dried on the side of the hill. If you can tell, the water is brown...not from people doing laundry in the river! I guess clean is relative...there is also a fishing boat and a man fishing in the river.

Another typical roadside structure

lots of cows, goats, sheep, etc on the roads 

I joined a short term team from Rockpointe Calgary today as they headed to a Fulani Village to do an eyeglass clinic! It was such a treat for me!

In the same village...just a typical house there

These kids were so excited to see the "white people"...yes, they call me white here! Girls learn to balance things on their heads at such an early age! no wonder they are so good at it!

All of my equipment is in the container, and hopefully being shipped....but thankfully one of the women who came from Rockpointe has done eyeglass clinics before and let me use some of her stuff! 

This woman's right eye has a dense cataract. She had cataract surgery done on her left eye less than a year ago, and she seems pretty happy with it, but her vision is very poor (20/200 - legally blind). I am pretty sure she is aphakic (a lens was not replaced for the one that was removed) but she also had central corneal and iris scarring and pupil distortion ...we could not help her see better by giving her glasses, so a pair of sunglasses were given to her. In an ideal world, she would have cataract surgery performed properly in her right eye and she would be able to see again out of that eye. In Africa, if she is LUCKY, she will have cataract surgery performed again, this time on her right eye and if she is even luckier, her right eye will have a better outcome than her left eye...

Two of our four translators! The village we were at is a Fulani village. So the people all speak Fulfide (the language that Rog and I hope to master in 2 years!) and because most of them have not been in the school system, they do not speak French...so we brought along people that could translate for us! (Most of the translators also spoke English to help the Rockpointe team, of whom only a few could speak French).
Some more shop talk...the guy on the left (Adam) was wearing +2.50D readers all the time...for distance too. He asked if he could get his eyes checked and the prescription I found for him was more like +4.50 in his right eye and +6.00 in his left eye! Unfortunately, I could not find a pair of glasses that were this prescription, but he was very happy to get a pair that were +4.75 in both eyes (and a stronger pair for reading). It was such a blessing to be able to help him out (as he was helping us out!) When you donate your old glasses...they DO get used!! Donna from Rockpointe brought these glasses with her and they were donated to her by the Lion's Club.

The kids LOVED getting their pictures taken...and Barb here is showing them their pictures! Pretty neat for them...

One of the girls that were a bit more shy...probably Jaelyn's age

The outhouse I used is the thing with walls on the right...I wish I had had the guts to go and take a picture of the actual "hole"...I should not complain though, as I was very thankful for the enclosed space and toilet paper...

Another picture of a typical street on the way home

So I have had some fun-filled adventures....hard to believe that we have only been here for 3 weeks (today!). Rog is headed out to another village tomorrow to check out the wells our team have helped dig. I can't promise pictures, but will see how it goes. Rog also had a chance to go see a used vehicle today that we may purchase! Seems like a good fit but we want to make sure it is indeed a good deal and not a bad one!
Thanks for keeping up with us...