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