The Dispensary, where people come for over the counter medicines, malaria treatment, and minor things that don't warrant a trip to the big city.




The New building at the Dispensary, donated by the Red Cross. On the left is the waiting room tent, where there are women waiting to weigh and measure their babies' in order to monitor their health and growth.



Every Thursday women come from all of the surrounding villages, up to 15 kilometers away, by taxi, canoe, or foot so that they can be sure their babies, toddlers, and small children aren't malnourished. Every mother gets to take home with her two bags full of CSB, a Corn-Soy Blend that they mix with milk, water, and sugar as a super nutritious meal for their kids.



On the far right in the brown outfit is Penda, my host mom, who volunteers with the Red Cross. As one of the more able readers/writers, she is considered a leader within the village and has her hand in everything! Every Thursday she spends the entire morning (about 9am-3pm) making the CSB mush for waiting families to snack on, teaching mothers the benefits of nursing until the child is at least 1 year old, and good hygiene.




Here another volunteer, Kadia (who won this position by taking a very challenging test comprised of math, word problems, and listening comprehension, and earning the highest score), is weighing and measuring the kids. They have to get down to their undies to get an accurate measurement...but don't worry about their puffy hair adding some height to their measurements. Go figure!




This is one of our doctors holding his nephews (about to be weighed and measured), sitting with his sister-in-law. The twins are named Alpha and Bocar, one being super outgoing, willing to greet me, and run around, and the other is really shy, afraid of white people, and clings to his mother's skirts. I don't know which is which.



Behold! The doctor's office space, storage room, consulting parlor, and experiment lab. Nifty!




These women are helping to sift through the CSB mixture given to the Dispensary by the Red Cross. I had no idea that if left alone, flours will acquire little black bugs that like to live, eat, and reproduce all right in that little space! The women take turns to help out with the flour sifters, going through several fifty kg sacks in a morning.



This is my host grandfather's third wife. My host mom's "aunt". I just thought she's got a pretty cool face.