Norman —
A group from a Norman church spent more than a week last month giving of themselves and leaving some of that gift behind for new friends who don’t even speak their language.
The group was part the Hanna Project from CrossPointe Church, on a mission titled “Save a Life” V. It’s the fifth year for the group to go to Africa and help impoverished people in villages in the Ivory Coast.
Norman residents who went on the trip were Dr. Perry Brooks, Mike Cousineau, Todd Niblett, Jayme Nurse, Sam Parham, Russell Ray, Tina Ray, Rick Roberts, Trey Roberts, Bob Usry, Dane Yaw and Sabrina Yaw.
The group’s primary push is providing medical care and also spreading the word of their Christian faith. They also took on other projects, like helping rebuild a nearby school.
“Are we doing any good? Thats the question people always ask,” Usry said. “Will we change life there where they are out of huts? Probably not, but we’re saving lives and trying to make a difference in their lives.”
A difficult task
The group left for the Ivory Coast Feb. 6, traveling two full days there before spending eight days in the field. They were part of a group of 50 that included missionaries and pastors from North Carolina, West Virginia, Texas and Canada.
The group was based in a village called Doropo, but visited a total of 26 villages, some as far as about 60 kilometers from Doropo.
Just getting there was an adventure. The Ivory Coast is in west-central Africa and is about half the size of the state of Texas. After flying into Abidjan, on the southern coast of the country, a drive of about 500 miles to the northeast tip of the Ivory Coast followed.
“The last 50 miles, there isn’t much road to take,” said Sabrina Yaw.
“And when you come down Highway 9 and smell that compost, well, multiply that by about 30 and you’re in Africa,” added Niblett.
The country’s official language is French, although dozens of different tribal and trade languages are used depending on the region.
The region has been in turmoil for some time, due to civil war and other uprisings that date back to an economic crisis that began in the 1980s.
“Everything you do there is extremely difficult,” Usry said.
Usry said the group had favor from both sides of the conflict, though, getting support for their travel from Wanda Nesbitt, the U.S. Ambassador to the country.
Group members also were invited into Nesbitt’s home during their stay.
“She wanted to hear all of the stories of our time, the experiences we had,” Usry said.
Health emergency
“You’re essentially going into a MASH unit,” said Brooks, whose focus was on doing surgeries and providing as much medical help to people in the villages as possible. “You can’t assume you can treat everybody.”
He said medical problems that might start off as severe often become so because the people simply can’t get anywhere to get expert treatment.
“There’s no way for them to get regular health care with where they are,” he said. “For them to get to the southern part of the country where it is available would be like you trying to get to South America.”
Brooks worked in what was literally a barn, doing about 70 surgeries and filling more than 700 prescriptions. He said many of the cases he saw were burn victims, due to the use of open fire for cooking in the villages.
The work went beyond just medical care. Niblett personally saw to the eye care needs of nearly 1,000 villagers and gave out nearly 600 eyeglasses while there.
One of the accomplishments for the group was providing 40 personal energy transporters, or PET carts, to people in villages. The carts are small scooters powered by hand cranks.
A video the group showed in CrossPointe’s Sunday service showed one such man with a debilitating leg condition, forced to slowly crawl across the dusty landscape in sort of a snakelike motion to get anywhere.
The next clip showed him climbing onto one of the vehicles and riding away toward his home with a big smile.
“Just imagine being given a whole new way of life,” Yaw said. “Because that’s what this did.”
A place to learn
Roberts helped lead what he joked was an “extreme makeover” of the local school a few miles from the group’s camp.
When he got there, he found a mess — old plywood falling down from the ceiling into the rooms, what remained of the school’s desks were destroyed and piled in the corners of classrooms and concrete sidewalks leading to the building in ruins.
“It was uninhabitable as any kind of a teaching facility,” he said.
He and 12 men showed up to work at the crack of dawn for six days to work on the building. They were never alone.
“Many of the local natives were always there when we got there, able and excited to help us there in any way they could,” Roberts said. “They couldn’t speak our language, but once we showed them one time the way to do it they had it. They were always one step ahead of us.”
In the end, more than 180 pieces of plywood was used to rebuild the ceiling. About 100 desks were built, the sidewalk was repaired and the students had a better chance to learn.
And what group members thought might be their favorite story of the trip followed. A man named Bini, who recently had taken over as the schoolmaster, decided to pray with the group and become a Christian.
Bini sent with the men several of the books used by students at the school.
“He said to teach your children French, and when you can’t come back yourselves, send your children back.”
The chief in the village where the group was based, a Muslim, talked about what he learned, despite a difference in faith.
“He said one thing I do know is true is that there is a God, because you people have left your family and come to be here, and I see God through you,” Usry said.
Christian Potts
366-3544
cpotts@normantranscript.com
