exciting announcement....

i'm going on a trip. i know you aren't surprised by that, but the location might be surprising! I'm going to Niger, Africa. It looks like I will be leaving February 25th and returning March 21st. It certainly isn't written in stone until I get a visa and a plane ticket!



For those of you that need a little geography refreshment, please see below:





Niger (actually pronounced with a French accent) is just north of the more commonly known country, Nigeria. French is the national language, although the majority of people speak one of the native dialects. It is one of the hottest countries in the worldd. Note, the location relative to the Sahara desert below:



I'm going through an organization called Medical Teams International that partners with non-profit organizations around the world. They try to help fill temporary needs for medical providers. A lot of organizations haven't found that wonder of PAs yet in international medicine!


The organization that is in Niger is SIM (Serving in Missions). They have a hospital in Galmi, Niger. It is approximately 6 hours by bus from the capital of Niamey.

Of course I have done research....below are some websites showing the sobering statistics related to this country. On the Human Development Index (HDI), they are dead last in the world. Their women have the highest birth rate as well...I have seen a couple stats. One said 7.5 kids/woman and another at 8.5 kids/woman. Overall, a lot of kids! Another interesting stat is that 50% of the population is age 15 or under. Crazy!

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_NER.html