Farmarilla

This last Friday and Saturday Dr. Dan, Anco, Daniel Coulibali, and myself went to this little village named Farmarilla to install a solar electric powered ultrasound for the health clinic. We left Friday afternoon and got there that evening. It is hard to explain where this village is in relationship to anything else. We took roads that turned into donkey cart paths. We went to the end of Africa and then another hour past that it seemed. We drove ourselves to Katiena and from there we followed a kid on a motorcycle the rest of the way. I took my GPS along so I could find it by myself next time I had to go there to work on something. The GPS turned out to be really handy. We found a shortcut back with the GPS. We just followed another donkey cart trail between two villages. That was fun.
We got there and started building the frame for the solar panel until it got dark. Then, they fed us a huge meal. Here in this part of Africa, they eat with their hands and do not use any flatware at all. So we ate macaroni with some kind of meat sauce with our hands. It was really good. For breakfast, we had some kind of hot rice cereal which was also good and for lunch on Saturday we had some kind of grain that comes from a plant that looks like grass. The grain itself looks like Kooskoos. We had that with a meat sauce that I think was goat or sheep. They kept us well fed.
The Malians up at this clinic are amazing people. They have people come from as far as 80 km away on motorcycles, donkey carts, bikes or whatever else they can ride on for all kinds of treatments. The clinic staff have a real passion for serving the people in whatever way they can. It is almost like a small hospital. It is very well run and is extermly clean by Malian standards. I love pouring myself into a place that the workers have such a passion for Christ and his people. The ultrasound will help in diagnosing problems early so the nurses can send the ladies to our hospital to deliver ther babys whether that is a C-section or just a problem delivery. Pray for courage and strength for these national missionaries. They need God's grace and mercy. Thanks for all your prayers for us. God Bless your week. The best place to fight the enemy is on our knees.