Streets are lined with ditches containing raw sewage and trash. No wonder there's so much disease there! When I had to cross it, I my heart would stop every time because I was so scared I would trip and fall in or something!!!

This is Steph and I examining two of the Manna kids.

A vendor at the market selling spices and rice, etc.

The main reason I had such a difficult time with the food in Nigeria.

This is another picture of the man I bought the pot from. This one is better because it shows his great smile a little more.

This is a picture of one of the "alleys" in the market.

This is a picture of us on the last night wearing our Nigerian outfits. For some reason, we just don't look as good as real Nigerians! I think it might have something to do with the pale white skin... (-:

This kid was so cute. He hung around me all day one day and kept asking me for a bicycle. I wished so much that I had one for him! He was so funny.

These are some of the elderly people in the village waiting to be seen and examined by us at the school. I loved them! They are also the ones that nearly rioted when we didn't give them medication that one day.

I thought these two were so sweet. They were very happy and smily people, but would get very serious when they were posing for a picture. I had to take this one when they weren't expecting it.

This little girl's heart was beating super fast because she was scared of me!

This little guy screamed the entire time I was examing him. Once I stopped touching him, however, he was just fine.

This is Mike and Queen examing several family members - two kids and their mom.

This is a little girl at one of the clinics we held in Onitsha. She was all dressed up for church.

I bought this pot from this man at the market. He is the one that actually made the pot. It can actually be played as a musical instrument and in the picture the man is demonstrating how it is done. He's singing a song as well. He was SO cute and smiled the entire time we were there. I bought it to give to my parents. I carried it in my backpack all the way from Nigeria so that it wouldn't break. Somehow, my backpack unzipped while I was walking to my gate in the Minneapolis airport and the pot fell out, breaking into a million pieces. I was very sad!

I think this is my favorite picture. It's a little girl carrying her younger sibling on her back. We were so impressed by how the kids in Nigeria take care of their younger siblings. They were always holding their hands, carrying them, and just watching out for them. We saw both of these kids in our "clinic" in Atta. They live in the village but don't attend the Manna School. It seemed like we kept on seeing them around the village.

Onitsha was covered with trash. We found this sign amusing, since it is among a giant pile of garbage/refuse!

Shanties along the road in Onitsha.

Kids at the Manna School in Atta.

The team I traveled with - Queen (nurse), me, Kathy (nurse), Steph (nurse), Robert (non-medical), Mike (in the back)

Home At Last

Hi... from Des Moines!

I wanted to let you all know that I am home safely. It was about 40 hours of exhausting travel, and I arrived at the Des Moines airport at around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. I have showered (twice), eaten a fantastic meal at Centro, slept, and am feeling well again. My bed has never felt so good. Also, it's never felt so good to be able to cover up with blankets or to rinse my toothbrush with tapwater instead of having to use warm bottled water or to eat dinner without wondering just what I'm putting into my mouth or where it came from. It's the little things. (-: Laundry and unpacking is well under way also. I've been able to be with both Kevin and Porterhouse since coming home, and that has been the best thing of all. It's SO good to be home.

I feel like our time in Nigeria was productive and very worthwhile. I always wish we could have done more and helped more people, but at the same time I'm happy with what we DID accomplish. We treated a lot of malaria, abdominal parasites, various infections, vitamin deficiency, and more. I am hopeful that we have made a difference, although small.

I appreciate the wonderful support and encouragement I've had from all of you and I will be forever grateful. I am the luckiest. Thank you.

I am FINALLY able to post some of my favorite photos... sorry I couldn't get them on there while I was gone. I hope you enjoy them!!!

Love,

Erin

Last Night in Nigeria

Well, it's our last night in Nigeria. I am definitely sad, but also VERY anxious to be home. I have never been so ready to return as I am this time. I'm not sure why, but I think it's a variety of reasons. I am hoping so much that I can sleep tonight so that the marathon travel is not quite so miserable. It's just so hot that it's been hard to get much sleep at all since being here.

We had a going-away party at Queen's tonight. She invited some of her family and close friends over for dinner. We had quite a variety of Nigerian cuisine. It's always interesting. I have done more obligatory eating on this trip... I can't wait to eat without anyone watching how much and what I put on my plate!!!

The party was fun. We Americans wore our Nigerian outfits that Queen's friend made for us. They are awesome. Hot, but awesome. I don't know how these people wear all of this on a regular basis!

We went to another market today, as well as the pharmacy for medications for the people we saw in Onitsha. It's amazing how much medication we are able to buy with such little funds!

The market we went to today was another great experience. We got some more great things to bring home.

Thanks for checking in and please check back in a few days to see pictures. I promise to post them soon after I get home. I can't wait to share them!!! And thank you for all of your support and contributions to this effort. I hope you know that it has gone to a worthwhile cause.

Love,

Erin

Hi! I am sorry it's been so long since I've been able to write! It has been an eventful several days, but unfortuntely we were nowhere near internet access. We spent several days in a fairly large city called Onitsha, which is located on the Niger River. It's a very poor place with extreme poverty - shanties everywhere, raw sewage lining the streets in little troughs or ditches that have been dug (my worst fear in the world is that I will fall in one of them!), extreme pollution and congestion, and overall filth. It was more like what I expected the entire country to be like. While the rural villages are extremely poor as well, the cities are just so much more desperate and depressing. The rural areas are incredibly peaceful, but I did not feel that Onitsha was peaceful at all! We had a bit of a scare as we were stuck in a big traffic jam on our way out of the city. Thankfully, everything turned out okay though. While in Onitsha, we saw a lot of people and they were very, very ill in general. A lot of malaria, typhoid, worms, and many other problems. We were able to treat some of the things with meds we had with us, but there were also many problems we were unable to help with. We have a big list of meds we need to buy from the pharmacy and have taken to the people after we are gone to be distributed. And then there are many more problems we will never be able to address, such as strokes, injuries from accidents, infertility, etc. I wish we could do more. All of the kids that we saw in Onitsha were given multivitamins that include vitamin A.

I saw a 20 year old girl with HIV in Onitsha. I asked her if she knew how HIV was transmitted. She had no idea. I explained how she got it and how she can pass it to others. I told her about precautions she needs to take in order to prevent spreading it. I also explained that she can pass it to her children when she has them one day and that she needs to get on medications before becoming pregnant. Even if I've done nothing else on this trip, it was worthwhile if this girl will keep from spreading it to others, especially her future children. I hope so much that she listened and took me seriously.

We are now back at Queen's, which is great because we've had some very difficult living arrangemnts on this trip. I am also having a difficult time with the food. I'm a pretty adventurous eater except when it comes to meat. They really like meat here and it's nothing like our meat. There's "bush meat," which no one can ever really identify (but sometimes it is rat which makes me want to vomit just thinking about it!), a ton of goat meat, beef, and chicken. It's hard to eat the meat when you see the animals grazing on a pile of trash for food. It also doesn't help that we see stands on the side of the road selling raw meat, as the sun beats down on it for hours and hours.

I had the most awful tasting thing I've had in my entire life last night at dinner - fortunately, I only had to take one bite. It's called foo foo and is a staple food here. It tasted like it was rotten. I almost couldn't swallow it even!
I would be completely satisfied eating just rice and fruit at every meal, but they watch you and it offends them if you don't eat everything on the table. It has been so hard!

My birthday was Monday and the Nigerians we have been staying with got me a cake. It was nice but had an interesting taste. It wasn't bad, just interesting. They even sang Happy Birthday to me. It was weird being so far away from home on my birthday, but I was lucky enough to get to talk to my Dad and Kevin. And I finally got to talk to my Mom yesterday.

We all sat down and watched a slideshow of our trip last night. It was so much fun to see what we've done since arriving and all the people we've seen. I can't wait to share my pictures on the blog when I get home. We've got some great ones.

We went to a market yesterday in Owerri, another city. It was so much fun! Everyone yells "Onyoche! Onyoche!" which means "White person! White person!" when they see us. We definitely drew crowds at the market. I don't think they've ever seen a real-live white person. It was such a cultural experience because it was so real. It was awesome. I bought an African drum and a pot. Others bought a lot of drums and other African musical instruments. I considered buying some dried fish that looked like dead rats, but I decided not to. (-:

Today we are going to the pharmacy to buy the medications for the people in Onitsha. Tomorrow we leave Nigeria for the U.S. It will be a long trip - Owerri to Lagos, Lagos to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Minneapolis, and Minneapolis to Des Moines. I will be so tired when I get home. I think I will sleep with my windows open after being this hot for this long! I'm dying here!

Thanks for checking in. I will post pictures when I get home!!

Where's Erin???

Hi everyone,

This is Kevin (Erin's husband). Erin gave me a call today to let me know she is doing well and that things are still going great. Unfortunately they have been in a location that lacked an internet connection for the last few days. She hopes to post again in the next couple of days, however, in the mean time she has asked that I post a little note to let you know what is going on.
From what I understood of our conversation, the area they recently traveled to was similar to her situation in Haiti (extremely economically depressed city). Apparently this is different from the economically depressed rural areas they have visited up to this point. She continues to comment on how very friendly and happy the Nigerian people are. The only thing, I think she really doesn't enjoy is the extreme heat with no air conditioning, fans, etc. to provide relief.
Anyway, I'm sure she will have must more in the next day or so.
Thanks for checking in.
Kevin Bell

Friday

We had another good day working at the Manna School, screening the remainder of the kids from the school as well as other children from the village. Each day we have diagnosed between 5 and 10 kids with malaria. We treat them with medication - usually a course of Quinine along with one other medication that I can never remember the name of. There is also a Chinese herbal treatment that has been very effective but we are not currently treating them with this. Mike, the physician in our group, would like to figure out a way to start growing it in the village so they can produce their own herbal medication for malaria treatment. I think that would be awesome.

This afternoon we stopped at a pharmacy in town to stock up on malaria medications as well as antibiotics and de-worming medication for the next village we are working in starting tomorrow. They sell every kind of medication over-the-counter, including some that are actually considered controlled substances in the United States. There are no prescriptions or MD orders required to get the medications. We walked in and there were about 50 people bellied up to the pharmacy counter buying medications. It looked like they were sitting at a bar drinking, but instead they were getting medications for their ailments. They decide what they need and self-medicate themselves. It's craziness! Anyway, we paid about $50 for a ton of medications - it was fantastic! We will be able to treat many kids with malaria and worms, etc. for so little money!

We had an extremely warm welcome when she arrived at the school today. We thought yesterday's welcome was a good one, but today was even better! All the kids came running around the building to greet us (there are over 200 school kids) and the elders of the village were sitting in front of the school waving and yelling "Welcome! Welcome!" I had one lady grab me and say "Welcome! You are my friend! I love you!" It was insane.

By the time we left, however, the elders of the village had become angry at us because apparently someone told them that we were dispensing "free medicine" to them today. We aren't sure why tehy were under this impression. In fact, Bridging the Gap has tried very hard to keep their program focused on treating the children of the village for malaria and worms and supplementing them with vitamin A, rather than getting into treating adults too. This is simply because of the limited resources of the organization and the desire to remain focused on the primary goal, which is to improve the health of children through malaria detection and treatment, de-worming, and vitamin A supplementation.

As we walked out of hte school to get into the van, the women were grabbing us an d saying things in Igbo. While I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could definitely tell that they weren't happy like when we had arrived this morning! They were yelling and clearly upset. Eventually, one of the women went up to Queen and Queen was told that they thought they were getting free medication from us today and they wanted to know why we were "breaking our promise." Queen explained to them that it was never our plan to give out medication to them and that they had been misinformed. We got into the van and as we drove away less than 60 seconds later they were smiling and waving once again, shouting "goodbye!" It was so bizarre how quickly their emotions toward us changed! But I'm glad it ended the way it did. For awhile there we thought there might be a riot!

On our way home, we stopped at a museum for Nigeria's war history. It is near where Queen lives. It costs 100 naira (Nigerian money), which is less than 1 U.S. dollar, to get in. Queen went up to pay for our admission and they crossed out the price on 4 of the 6 tickets and wrote "200 naira" instead. The cheaper tickets were for Robert (an African American guy that is on the team) and Queen (obviously black because she's Nigerian) because they are black. Us caucasian people had to pay twice as much for admission to the museum! Queen was very angry that they charged us more and she was quite vocal about her opinion. She's a feisty Nigerian, that's for sure. (-: It was kind of funny. It's typical to get ripped off and charged more in these places because we are from the U.S. and they think we have money to spend, but I've never had them be so blatant about it!

Now we are back at Queen's house where we will be staying again tonight (thank goodness). Queen knows a lady that wants to make us traditional Nigerian clothing before we leave. We just finished getting measured by they lady and she will go to the market tomorrow to pick out material for it. I'm excited!

I hope all is well at home. I will try again to get some pictures on the blog tonight after others have used the internet for email, etc. Have a great night!!

Love,

Erin

So apparently the cockroach next to the bed was not the only one here. I went to shower last night and there nearby was the BIGGEST COCKROACH EVER. I was so freaked out - I think I showered in record time and somehow I kept my eyes open so I could make sure he wasn't coming near me. He kept getting a little agitated but thank God he didn't move too much closer.

We are off to work now. It's another hot one here in Nigeria! I am excited to start working today though. It's going to be a good day.

I hope you all are doing well. I will hopefully get some pictures posted at some point (still having problems with that). I really, really want to share at least a few of them with you all. If nothing else, I will post them as soon as I get home. But I'll keep trying.

Yay! Ceiling Fans!!!

2/26/09 @ 7:30

Queen is a nurse that is from Nigeria but works and lives in Minnesota. She works at United, the hospital in Saint Paul that I used to work at before moving to Des Moines. Queen owns a 9 bedroom house about an hour and a half away from the village where we are working. She has taken us to her house for the night (and possibly tomorrow night too). Her house is not super luxurious or anything, but after last night it is heaven on earth. She has ceiling fans, and some of her rooms even have air-conditioning! The windows have screens, too, so we won’t need to use our mosquito bed nets. Also, she has a shower! Queen has been wonderful - she's a wonderful person and she is very protective of us here. We are so lucky to have her with us!

This weekend we are going to a different village to work. We will be doing the same things as part of the same program to detect and treat malaria, and improve the health of children there in general through Vitamin A supplementation and de-worming treatment.

Steph just came in and told me she has located our first cockroach. He’s lying belly-up on what has just now been identified by her as my side of the bed for tonight. At least he's belly-up (dead). What a friend. (-:

Thanks for checking in and I’m sorry it took so long for me to get something posted on here. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers while I’m here. I feel like I’m truly part of an amazing effort here in Nigeria, one that has already saved the lives of kids in the village. I am confident that this project’s plan of attack is both appropriate and effective. It seems to be well-organized and as efficient as anything can be here in Nigeria!

Good night!

Night 1 and Day 2

2/26/09 @ 4:00pm

We worked at the school again today, seeing more kids for malaria screening and general assessments. It went well. We actually finished seeing the kids earlier than expected, so we agreed to see some of the village adults since the Bishop really wanted us to. We were told that “even if you can’t do anything for them, they believe that simply having you touch them will solve all the problems in the world.” We didn’t want to promote this myth, so we tried to be clear that they needed to seek treatment for most of their ailments from their community doctor. For some reason, the fact that we are from the U.S. and have white skin makes them think we are able to perform miracles on them. It’s very awkward. Dr. Talberg kept telling the people that their village doctor is “a better doctor than me.” They looked at him like he was crazy!

Last night was an absolutely miserable night for sleeping. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life. I came here completely prepared to sweat like crazy and be quite uncomfortable. But last night was unbearable. We had to keep our door and windows shut all night for security reasons. There are no ceiling fans and no electricity, which I suppose would make ceiling fans pointless anyway. There is a generator on the grounds where we are staying, but they turn it off at night. I am hoping tonight is better! Dr. Talberg, who has been here many times, said that last night was the worst he’s ever experienced. And he’s quite possibly the most easy-going, laid back person I’ve ever known. So I didn’t feel so bad when I was bordering on a panic state at 2am when I couldn’t bear it! . Steph was almost in tears from midnight until 3am. I felt like I had to keep myself somewhat collected (on the outside) in order to keep her from freaking out! Steph and I had to share an abnormally small double bed, with our two single-sized mosquito nets rigged together with hair clips, string, and rubber bands over the top of us. It was so hot we felt like we were suffocating. Kathy, one of the other nurses, got up this morning stating that it was her mission to figure out a way to get back to Lagos in order to get on a plane to go home to Minnesota today. Fortuntely, we all rallied and no one went home today. It also didn’t help that we were feeling as isolated as ever since we couldn’t make any contact with family at home since arriving here.

We are currently on the lookout for a place on the side of the road to purchase a toilet seat for the toilet in the place in the village where we are staying. For some reason, toilet seats are not standard in Nigerian bathrooms. In fact, I have yet to see one. Actually, I take that back – I have seen toilet seats, but none that are attached. Usually they are either absent completely or they are sitting on the floor next to the toilet. It’s the strangest thing.

We just tried something called sooya (I’m sure I’m not spelling that correctly, but that’s how it sounds anyway). It’s thinly-sliced, spicy beef on a stick. I’m thinking this is a new idea for the state fair…

So far I have not gotten any mosquito bites. It might be the 4 cans of Ultrathon I’ve used already.

So far the bugs aren’t too bad. I have seen a few very large spiders, but no snakes, rats or cockroaches, thank goodness!! I am also trying not to look TOO hard for these things. We have seen a lot of pretty large lizards, which I don’t mind. After all, lizards eat mosquitos! Therefore, lizards are always welcome near me.

We Have Arrived Safely!!!

2/25/09 @ 7pm

Well, it’s been a long journey, but I am happy to report that we have finally arrived in the village! Starting on Monday afternoon, I flew from Des Moines to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Lagos, Nigeria, arriving in Lagos around 8pm Tuesday night. We were exhausted. We rented a couple of hotel rooms in Lagos near the airport. The “hotel” experience was, well, memorable. I’m still not sure how they could possibly charge us $70/room, but whatever.

Steph and I woke up at 3:30am wide awake. We talked and laughed for the next two hours of the night because we couldn’t sleep – I think we were so sleep-deprived that delirium had set in. Everything seemed funny to us... until we had to get up after only sleeping about 6 hours over the past several days and nights! The time difference is 7 hours later in Nigeria than at home in the Midwest.

This morning we got up early and took an in-country flight from Lagos to Owerri, Nigeria. It was a bit of a turbulent ride and the pilot drove the plane around the turn on the runway like a racecar driver drives a racecar. When we got to Owerri, we had to drive about an hour to our final destination in the village of Atta.

A man at the airport came up to me and asked if we were from the U.S. I told him we were. He said “that’s good!” I said, “Is it?” He said, “Yes! You are Obama people!” We’ve gotten the clear impression that Nigerians are very happy by our country’s recent election results. It makes me less nervous to announce that I’m from the U.S. when asked!

We arrived in Atta and met Ben, the village bishop whose home we are staying in for the next two weeks. Ben and others here were extremely happy to see us arrive, which was nice. We had not even gotten our luggage out of the vehicles before Ben told us we had to go to the clinic because “the village is waiting for you.” Apparently we were wasting no time in getting to work! This was just fine by me, though, because I want to do as much as possible in the few short weeks we’re here! It didn’t hit me until 3 hours in that we had not yet eaten today. We just finished eating for the first time and it’s 6:30pm.

We saw kids from the school in the clinic today for malaria screening and general assessment. We checked their heart, lungs, abdomens, skin, etc. The way we screen for malaria is by evaluating each child for splenomegaly (enlarged spleen), abdominal pain, fevers, difficulty sleeping, and poor appetite. We also rule out typhoid, which can present with very similar symptoms (usually more intense abdominal pain though). We have a laboratory at the clinic where we are able to run basic blood work such as complete blood counts, etc. We are screening all of the school children as well as children from the on-site orphanage for malaria. If we do detect malaria or typhoid, or other such disease, we treat them with medication.

The “program” we are a part of administers Vitamin A supplements (tablets) weekly to each child in the village. Vitamin A supplementation alone has been proven to reduce mortality in under-developed nations such as Nigeria by 25%! It’s a simple way to make a HUGE impact on the prevalence of unnecessary deaths. Vitamin A has many benefits.

These same children also receive a three day course of Mebendazole, which is a de-worming medication for abdominal parasites, every 3 months. 1 in 3 children here have worms at any given time. The most common type of abdominal parasite is round worm.

Today was awesome. It feels like we are part of something that is working here in Atta and has been proven to save lives as well as improve quality of life for these kids. This program is very focused and specific, which is awesome because we can see the difference being made. I am so relieved to finally be here and I was so glad when we were put to work immediately after our arrival. It was perfect!

The people in Nigeria are wonderful. They seem genuinely happy (in fact, they were recently ranked the happiest country in the world!!!) and hopeful, and they are extremely grateful. They want to do everything for us, which is actually pretty awkward at times. They won’t let us carry any of our bags or walk anywhere, even if we want to! They are gracious and kind people, and they seem to like to give us hugs when they meet us! They are so happy to have us here and clearly have a great deal of pride in this country. I feel safe and protected.

Thanks for checking in - I hope to be able to write again soon! Unfortunately, we do not have internet access where we are staying, so we have to go to Owerri each time we want to communicate. We are also having trouble with the cell phone Steph brought to use. Tonight we are feeling very distant and out of touch with people at home. In addition, we are over-tired and extremely hot. It’s not a good feeling. Thankfully, though, we have each other which is helpful.

Good night!!

About Nigeria

Location: The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea, a part of the Atlantic Ocean, in the south. The red area is Imo State. This is where I will be working in Nigeria. The village of Owerri is the capital of Imo State. Imo State is named after the Imo River.

Capital: Abuja

Largest City: Lagos

Official Language: English

Recognized Regional Languages: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba. The local language in Imo State is Igbo.

Nigerian Government: Presidential Federal Republic

President: Umaru Yar'Adua

Republic Declared: October 1, 1963

Population Estimate: 148,000,000 - Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the 8th most populous country in the world.

Currency: Nigerian Naira

National Symbols of Nigeria:
Flag: Bicolour (green and white)
Emblem: Coat of Arms of Nigeria

Anthem: Arise, O Compatriats
Animal: Eagle
Bird: Black Crowned Crane
Flower: Costus Spectabilis

Sport: Football (soccer!)

Nigeria's Coat Of Arms

Health Care In Nigeria:

Health, health care, and general living conditions in Nigeria are poor. Life expectancy is 47 years (average male/female) and just over half the population has access to potable water and appropriate sanitation; the percentage is of children under five has gone up rather than down between 1990 and 2003 and infant mortality is 97.1 deaths per 1000 live births. HIV/AIDS rate in Nigeria is much lower compared to the other African nations such as Kenya or South Africa whose prevalence (percentage) rates are in the double digits. Nigeria, like many developing countries, also suffers from a polio crisis as well as periodic outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and sleeping sickness. As of 2004, there has been a vaccination drive, spearheaded by the World Health Organization, to combat polio and malaria that has been met with controversy in some regions.

About The Organization

"Bridging The Gap" is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization. It was founded approximately 10 years ago and it seeks to reduce the incidence of malaria in children in the village of Owerri. I am traveling to Nigeria with a team of 6 people - one physician, four RNs (one of which is Steph, one of my very best friends), and one non-medical support person. We have been assured that we will have plenty of work to do during our time there. Ben is our main contact person in the village and he has arranged our scheduled. In our communications with Ben leading up to our visit, we made it clear that we want to work hard. In looking at our schedule, I think we will be plenty busy! I can't wait. I'm anxious to know exactly what we will be doing so that I can share it with you. I think it'll mainly be performing screening for malaria in the kids of the village.

Africa Here I Come!

Hi Friends!

As many of you know, I set up a blog when I went to Haiti last January. I have decided to do it again this time for my trip to Nigeria. It is a great way for me to let you all know how things are going and the good your money is doing through my team's efforts.

Feel free to check in as often as you'd like while I'm gone. I will be leaving Des Moines on Monday, February 23 and returning to Des Moines on Friday, March 6.

Thanks for all of your support of me in this project. It truly means more to me than you could possibly know.

Love,

Erin