Koutiala day 5

 The woman in this picture has been receiving financial assistance for food from Koutiala Hospital since she was disowned (along with her daughter) from her Muslim husband after she accepted Christ.  Women in this culture do not have a way to make money for themselves and she is still having to live with her husband's family even though they refuse to give her any food or support.  This is true persecution.  The welfare fund at Koutiala Hospital is set aside just for this type of situation.

This little girl has a congenital heart condition that will most likely be lethal as she gets older.  There is no option for cardiac surgery in all of Mali.

 What do you think these bottles are used for in a hospital?  Give up..... spacers for albuterol treatments for children with asthma.

Pediatrician Brett and his four Malian nurses.  We have been doing afternoon lectures as a group on such topics as sickle cell disease, G6PD deficiency, and leukemia.  Joe, the nurse on the far right, was actually accepted into medical school but was unable to go due to lack of funds for housing.  This was before his time at Koutiala Hospital.  He is a very accomplished nurse and has been offered positions at other hospitals for a significant increase in salary.  He has stayed at the hospital because he knows that God is working in this place through him.  All of the nurses at the hospital speak French and are christians.

 We attempted our first electrophoresis run today and were successful with about half of the specimens.  We discovered where our problems are and will be running the samples again tomorrow.  The procedure will allow us to run 72 samples at one time as part of a goal of screening all of the babies who are born at the hospital for sickle cell disease.  We are also screen all of the Malian employees and their children under the age of 5 for free.

 Tonight we had dinner with Jeremy (Brett's house worker) and his family.  You can see Jara, the girl from the hospital that they took in, holding Jeremy's infant son in the background.  Jeremy named the little boy Brett after Dr. MacLean.

 This is Jeremy with his big smile!  He is proud of the peanuts growing in his back yard.

 He also had corn and okra.

Typically, Malians will eat out of a common bowl with their hands, but Jeremy brought out his best things for us including plates and forks:)  You can see the food on the floor in front of us.  Cipro is working well for me, in case anyone is wondering.