Surgery Time!

My uncle Bill is one of the teaching doctors at Evangel Hospital in Jos. He is a very experienced surgeon who has been living and working in Jos for over 16 years. For about 3 or 4 days I was able to follow him around, observe surgery, and even “scrub in” on a few cases!

I absolutely loved it and soaked in as much as I could! I saw umbilical hernia repairs, bladder stone removal, a forehead tumor removal (it was the best!), the end of a prostatectomy, the removal of a needle in a little boy’s foot (it went in with the dull end first), and a tendon repair/fracture repair on a man’s hand. It was such a cool experience and helped to confirm my interest in the medical field.

Here are some cool pictures for those with strong stomachs:

Hospital Entrance

Time for some serious surgery!

Oh yeah, massive tumors in the head.

This is what they pulled out!

Herniated umbilicus

I actually scrubbed in on this one...tendon repair and pin in fractured metacarpal

Tiny tiny baby!

Hausa Phrase of the Day:

“Gajiya ta bi lahiya.”

“Tiredness follows health.”

(It means that if you’re tired it’s a good thing because you’re healthy enough to work and get tired out. So it’s a way to be positive in responding to the greeting “How is your tiredness?”… when you are really beat and tired after a long day!)

Hillcrest School

Hillcrest is the K-12 school that all four of my Ardill cousins (Marie, Heather, Anna, and David) attend. I had the opportunity to hang out at school with them, help them study for exams, and play sports with them after school.

It reminded me of a cross between my grade school in Ethiopia (Bingham Academy) and my high school in Kenya (Rift Valley Academy). Hillcrest is smaller than RVA was, but there are fewer MKs (missionary kids) than there were at RVA. My good friends Tim de la Haye and Aaron Thacher (who are my age) went to Hillcrest, so I was just picturing them running around campus with their backpacks on, goofing off with their friends. The place really has some cool history.

While I was there one of the teachers was sick, so my loving Aunt Dorothy volunteered me to substitute for 4^th grade until the teacher was feeling better (I did some subbing while I was in California, don’t worry)! I had a fun time with the kids and was really able to see what Hillcrest is like.

My cousin Marie and new friend Melanie on the bleachers.

Uncle Bill was the graduation speaker...it was so good!

The flametrees are so beautiful!

It was so good to play sports again! Ultimate frisbee on the lower field...

It poured when we were playing volleyball! Man have I missed the rain.

Volleyball after school

I think I got blocked on this one! Doh!

My fourth grade class that I substituted in for two days.

Hausa Phrase of the Day:

“Rishin sani ya hi dare duhu.”

Lack of knowledge is darker than night time.

(There is nothing worse than ignorance.)

Nigeria!

I just got back from the most incredible two-week trip to Nigeria to visit my uncle and his family who live in Jos, and also to see some other SIM ministries in the area. It’s hard for me to fully describe how much I enjoyed my time there meeting new friends, scrubbing in on surgery with my uncle, and eating good food every day among other things.

The main difference I noticed just driving down from Maradi was how GREEN Nigeria is! It has already started raining there, while we are still waiting for some good heavy rains in Niger. Nigeria is much more developed…they have more money, businesses, a better education system, and a lot more people. I guess I wasn’t really expecting so many differences, so I kind of experienced a little bit of culture shock myself!

Finally, they spoke ENGLISH! It was so refreshing to be able to talk freely in English and communicate well. I was able to use some of my Hausa, but people were really impressed that I knew even some Hausa you don’t really need to learn it there to get by.

My cousins Marie and David in Jos

The Ardills' backyard

Clouds means rain...yeah!

With my new friends Moussa and Haoua

Hausa Phrase of the Day:

Some noted differences between “Niger Hausa” and “Nigerian Hausa”

Niger vs. Nigeria

“lahiya” vs. “lafiya” (health)

“maraice” vs. “yamma” (afternoon)

“ruwa” (pl.) vs. “ruwa” (masc.) - (water)

“iska” (masc.) vs. “iska” (fem.) – (wind)

Currency difference:

Niger – francs (CFA)

Nigeria – Naira

- in Niger they use the “dala (like “dollar”) system” in which one “dala” is five francs. So something that costs “dala hamsin” (fifty dala) is actually 250CFA. In Nigeria, they don’t use “dala”. Fifty Naira is exactly that…50N.

Some Prayer Requests

Thank you so much to those of you who are and have been praying for me! It really is so encouraging to know that I have friends who are really supporting me out here through intercession. Praise the Lord with me that things are going very well and learning so much.

Some things you could continue to pray for me about:

- Hausa language learning (I’m meeting with a tutor every week and am learning a lot. Please pray for continual growth so I can better communicate with Nigeriens in their native language)

- Relationships with locals (I’m making friends with some really good Christian guys at work in the hospital. Please pray for growth in these relationships and that we would find time to hang out outside of work)

- Consistency in spending time with God (yes, it’s a constant struggle for me even out here. Pray that I would remain focused on Him in all things.)

Thank you all once again!

My friend Lawali and I at the hospital

Tukur, a leprosy patient, who is really interested in learning English

Favorite Hausa Phrase of the Day:

“Gama mulki, da iko, da girma, naka ne har abada. Amin.”

“Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the authority forever and ever. Amen.”

(The last line of the Lord’s Prayer…)

Temperature

Well things are definitely heating up around here! Just yesterday the forecast for the Maradi region was projected to have a high of 107F. Hot season is starting to kick in, and I’m anticipating it will get even hotter over the next two months or so.

Sweat has become a very familiar feeling, even when I’m doing absolutely zero physical activity. I think that sweat stains (in the perfect outline of my back and head) are on just about every cushion in the house!

The other night the power went out so we had no fans or air coolers to keep us cool inside, so I decided to wander outside and check the temp. Bringing my trusty headlamp, I checked and it was 93F…at 9:40pm! That’s pretty cool if you ask me…

Yeah, it's pretty hot...

In the "fadama" outside of town

Favorite Hausa Phrase of the Day:

“Arha ba ta ado.”

“Cheap(ness) does not adorn/decorate.”

(That’s the best I could do for a literal translation. It seems pretty similar to our proverb: “You get what you pay for.”)