It was my second visit to the village of Manikura. Last time, we traveled by truck. This time, we traveled by motorcycle, saving about an hour. Lifting the motorcycles and securing them into the long canoe-like ferry to cross the Niger River was impressive: the motorcycles fit, three filling each row.

There were not many patients when we arrived at the public health center in Manikura. So after a while, they took us on a house call to see an older man with high blood pressure, a relative of someone who worked at the health center. While normal diastolic blood pressure is 80, his was over 150 and among the highest I have ever seen. He was one of my first patients in Mali.

In the USA, a hospital would admit him for hypertensive crisis. Those services were not available to him here. He cannot even afford to buy blood pressure medicine which costs about $2-$3 per month here. So by God’s grace, we arranged to get the medicine for him.

Next, we visited a man injured in a motorcycle accident. He had been instrumental in helping the Malinke project secure a piece of land next to his. When I saw him, one of his knees was wrapped in a cloth dressing. I had an elastic bandage in my medical bag, which looked like it would work better, so I offered it to him, and he joyously accepted it.

Please pray that we will quickly learn the local language, Bambara, so that God can use us in greater ways here. Thank you for partnering with us to bring smiles to the sick and injured.

• Twitter