In January, I had the privilege of working with the national workers for another missionary family here in northern Benin. They asked me in December if I would be willing to do a health program for their church leaders. I agreed, and we set a date. It would be a three-day, six-hour-a-day program. As the time got close, I tried to use the office printer to print out master copies of the little health booklets I have written. After fighting several days with it, I finally got it to print.

As usual, I began my health program by introducing the creation story and moving into the month-by-month development of the fetus. My life-sized cutouts of each development stage help break the ice. Maternal health and nutrition was next on the list, naturally important for the wellbeing of the mother and developing fetus. These people were eager to learn, and they asked lots of very good questions. They were mostly the leaders of the churches in their villages, and they planned on presenting this information when they returned home.

We also covered the dangers of chemical abortion, which is a big thing here even though people don’t talk about it, as well as the causes of miscarriage. Because we had more time, we were able to discuss each topic in detail.

The next two days were full of discussing treatments using water and charcoal. We talked about how to measure the upper arm of a child to see if they are malnourished and how to make oral rehydration solution for sufferers of diarrhea. God truly blessed this program, and I pray the concepts will be put to use in their villages.

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