Out in the bush in Niger (west Africa) is a place called Galmi and SIM has a hospital there. We visited Galmi and stayed on the hospital compound in 2001 for the national life conference that SIM holds every year.
The trip out there was very bumpy, the potholes were often over a metre wide and much of the time we drove off road (alongside the main road on the dirt). Driving through Africa you are sure to see some interesting sights such as these:
The hospital itself is nothing like our hospitals here in Australia. Entering the building for a tour isn’t something you do if you have a weak stomach.
Here’s my friend Janella and I outside the front gate:
and a mother with her sick baby:
as you can see, I will never complain about waiting rooms at the doctors here in Australia again from the waiting room there (which is fairly standard I was told):
Why the nostalgic post about somewhere I visited over 6 years ago? Because a friend of ours who worked in Niger while we were there has been working on a website for Galmi and its gone live recently. The website is:
This is one of their photos from the site. It reminds me of something our missionary tour guide told us while there, that one of the most common injuries at the time was from Fulani men who had fallen out of a tree and hurt their foot. They were trying to collect food for their herd and often would walk on the injured foot for days before treatment.
If you have a minute, please have a look at their site. Feel free to leave comments on what you think of it here and I’ll pass them on to our friend.
Stumble it!
