A Tree in Africa

During an internet search I stumbled across this video of our Costa Rican friend's Missionary project. At time 6:19 in the video there is a nice close-up of Ngone's older sister Aissatou's daughter.  Then at time 6:30 in the video you can see Ngone's uncle Housseini and Ngone's mother Fatou Diouf sitting with the Costa Rican missionary (with the beard) in front of our house under construction in Boukhou.  Apparently some of the families have removed their children from the Missionary home in Thies because of the Christian activities. But Ngone's mother has been a key local supporter of the Missionary, as has Jig Jum.

At that point in the video it makes it seem like the Missionary is saving the little boy on his lap from his grandmother (Ngone's mother) sending him to be a Talibe. That is true in a sense. But the boy shown in the video is not Ngone's mother's grandson. The Missionary is however taking care of one of Ngone's mother's grandsons and two of her granddaughters. (Girls are not allowed to be Talibes).  Ngone's mother did previously send one of her other grandsons to be a Talibe, our nephew Dao Pooy, but he's now back at home. He is doing fine and is the boy we took to the hospital to cast his sprained ankle. That trip to the hospital is a whole nother story:

Hospitals in Senegal are a very sad place. In the emergency room I talked with a mother consoling her son with his head broke open who had been to the hospital multiple times and they just gave her token prescriptions and her son was now obviously on the verge of death and she was fighting to get attention from the doctors who were busy caring for other people we could see and hear who were about to die. The condition of the hospital rooms and bathrooms is worse than some of the grungiest places in the country. There must be foreign aid money coming in from France and the USA for the hospital!? There must be national government money for the hospital!? Where is it falling through the cracks? We actually met a cousin of Ngone's from a nearby village who worked in or around the emergency room as a nurse or doctor and was very nice and helpful and took care of Dao Pooy. There are surely some other saints and angels there amongst the intense despair and hopelessness. They need help!

Chip In

When Ngone called home recently she found out that her younger sister Khady (introduced earlier in this blog) had been laying on her mother's bed for a couple weeks sick and without eating anything.  She also found out that her older sister Ami's daughter was seriously ill. Ngone sent home some of her hard-earned money to pay for their doctor's visits.

I have found over the years that paying for doctor visits and prescriptions and annual school fees and supplies are the most effective ways to help.  But you kind of have to wait for someone to call in need.  Inevitably they do.

In the spirit of Ngone I am setting up a fund to help pay for doctor visits and school fees, and will be reaching out to provide that assistance to those outside her family.  Over the years I have found that a doctor visit and prescription costs around $40, and annual school fees and supplies for one student around $30.

Be one of 111 people to contribute $3 to this fund by Bob Marley's 64th birthday, February 6th, 2009! Thank you for supporting these strong people in their hour of need, and I will keep you posted with stories of who and what the money goes to. We are setting up the fund with an earlier donation from my Uncle Tom Vaught of Springfield, Illinois. Just click on the Chip In link to the right and you will be connected to PayPal directly to make a secure donation using a credit card.