amanda's musings: Galmi and the Toebiters

My friend Janella and I at the entrance to Galmi

*Links to all previous parts in this series are at the end of this post.

As part of our time in Niger we attended the yearly conference where all the SIM missionaries in the country get together for a time of catch up and fellowship. As far as I know it's held in different locations each year and while we were there it was held on the property of Galmi Hospital.

We were quite glad that it was held out there and not in the capital Niamey where we lived as it gave us a chance to see the famous (in SIM circles) hospital and experience a bit more of Niger. The drive to Galmi was about 8 hours (if my memory serves!) and the road was very similar to the Aussie Nullabor, only rougher and with bigger and more frequent potholes (see pic, left).

All the Sahel singles and Michael and I were put into a house together. They all bunked in two rooms together and we had our own of course. It was a basic missions house, mostly concrete and very barely furnished. It was fine for what we all needed. I think it wasn't quite finished which would explain its ruggedness. That would also explain why there was such a big gap around the tap in the bathroom shower that we heard screams from the singles when they discovered hundred of earwigs (or toebiters) pouring out of the hole and into the recess! This was only added to when one of them discovered that

there was a typical Niger lizard cooling off in the toilet! Ahhhh, missions life.

We did get to tour the hospital and it was a real eye opener (pic: The waiting room with concrete seats). Galmi hopsital has been around for many years and it's a SIM run missions hospital. That doesn't mean that it's anything like a lovely clean 'western' hospital . It's not air conditioned and the staff are overworked. There are so many needs there all the time. Currently SIM is looking for the following positions there (clicky the links to read more):

Medical