Medical Outreach to Kamrum

Kamrum Outreach Team

Emily and I celebrated her 20th birthday on Thursday, February 19th in a very special way: by going on a medical outreach to Kamrum with our neighbor Dr. Don Sampson. (Michael and the other kids stayed at home.) Emily and I were prepared to tent camp at our destination along with our other 20+ team members. We were actually spared of that though. In fact, we shared a bedroom and had a bed and a toilet down the hall. (Mind you though, there was no running water in the whole house!) A well-off retired man in town graciously opened up his home and hosted us.

It was a big deal that foreigners were coming to the village (people from another place), much less that some of the foreigners were white! The whole village turned out the first night; the women and children danced for us to the drums. The children were especially ecstatic when Emily and I got up and allowed them to coach us on how to dance their way. One boy was so excited about how I danced that he told me I couldn’t leave the village; I belonged with them!

Dancing welcome was warming up

The next morning and again on Saturday, Emily and I participated in the outreach by filling prescriptions. Medical care is the honey that draws the villagers from all around. They come to see the doctor and get medicine. Before they can get their prescription filled, however, they must meet with a counselor. The pastors that came along were very friendly and talked and prayed with each individual about their spiritual health as well as their physical.

The "pharmacy"

In addition to the medical care that was offered, another team came and provided a live worship band, outdoor movie, and guest speaker. The soccer field was packed with people dancing and singing and laughing. We learned later that the village does not usually turnout like that for locally sponsored events.

Emily and I both had special friends that we made on the trip; mine was a young Fulani woman. I looked up the first day from the pills I was counting to find two young mothers with their babies strapped on their backs gazing at me intently and openly gawking at me. I looked up and smiled and they giggled to each other and continued to look at me in wonder. (Many Nigerians we encountered on the trip had not seen a white person before.) One of the ladies was bold enough to come up to me and signal for medicine for her head that was hurting. (Later she started walking down the road with a 30+ pound sack of grain on her head and a baby strapped on her back so fast that I couldn’t catch up to her - - no wonder she had a headache!) We weren’t taking anymore patients that day (we’d already seen over 200), so we told her to come back the next day. We actually ended up seeing more than 500 patients over the course of the two days we were there. Patients waiting at 8:30 am

I woke up and prayed in the night specifically for this one girl. She touched me for some reason. Fulani keep to themselves and are very resistant to hearing the Gospel. I was very excited when she came back alone the next day to me specifically. We had stopped seeing patients already again, but I was able to get one of the doctors to see her. My friend agreed to be counseled and hear about Jesus. She promptly came back to me and just pulled up a chair and sat next to me for a long time just watching me. It was precious. Only the Lord knows what seeds were planted that day; I would love to find out one day!

Our trip concluded with a visit to the village chiefs and important men. The village musicians, this time horn players, turned out to send us off. Especially touching were the village women that gathered around our vehicles and began singing and wouldn’t stop until we finally drove away. Nigerians really know how to make you feel welcome and very special!

Lisa

Chiefs and our gracious host

Farewell send-off by the musicians

The women singing for our farewell