Dr. Gary Roark (right) with Leron Lehman, CURE Niger's executive director

Hello, I’m Dr. Gary Roark, the medical director of the CURE Niger hospital, and I’d like to share some of the random events in a typical day for me in Niger…

Bzzzzzz—SMACK.  The alarm is obnoxious…Time to boil some water for a cup of coffee…Wake Daniel my son for school…Sun’s not up yet….Into the shower:  YIKES, that water is ICE cold!…Don’t need any coffee now…

Strap on my helmet…Bike saddle bags are attached to the back of the bike—check …YAWN (stretch) …”Bonjour!”…Here I go on the bike ride to the hospital…I stay off the main roads.  Back roads are not paved, but at least I don’t have to dodge the maniac taxi drivers…Whoops, almost hit that dog—looks just like the sandy road til he moves!…WHEW!…

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Kids at the CURE Niger hospital

When you are 9 years old, trees are nature’s jungle gym. This particular one was perfect for climbing.  So climb she did, until a village mama came by and told her to come down. Another, less mischievous little girl might have scrambled down the trunk and skulked away, but not her. This branch she was on was made for dancing. But dancing isn’t meant to be done in trees. Her foot slipped. She fell. Landing hard on the packed red dirt, she broke her leg, the tibia and fibula.

Here in Niger, when you live in a village and need medical care, you go to the village healer. He knew well enough that her leg needed to be stabilized and splinted for the bone to heal. Wrapping it tightly, he sent her home.  The pain was excruciating.  She cried and cried and cried. She said the bandage was too tight. Three days later, her parents took her back to the healer. He unwrapped, and then re-wrapped, the broken leg.  Still she cried.

An American nurse from a nearby village heard of the little girl and went to visit.  Unwrapping the leg, she discovered the reason for the girl’s anguish. Her leg had been bound too tightly.  The circulation needed for healing had been cut off. Muscle had died, tissue had rotted, and infection had set in. The tree dancing had occurred in August, and it was now October.

This was, however, no ordinary October for Niger. Something very special had happened. CURE International began seeing patients in its newly constructed hospital in Niamey.  Knowing of CURE, the nurse brought her little patient to be seen – one of the first of many who have come for care since we opened our doors.

“Great crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing.  And they praised the God of Israel.” Matthew 15:30-31

We have come to bring healing in the name of Isa, Jesus. That His compassion, mercy and grace will bring healing to hearts as well as bones.

It is an honor and privilege to be a part of CURE Niger, and there is much to celebrate! We are celebrating…the containers of medical supplies that were donated by charitable organizations in the U.S. and Sweden…the medical specialists who have voluntarily come to help train our staff, as well as those who have come to offer technical support…the grand opening of CURE Niger, with the wholehearted support of the current Nigerien government…integrity and compassion exemplified by many of our newly hired staff…Most of all we are celebrating the smiles on little faces and tears of joy in their parent’s eyes when they walk out of our gates transformed inside and out.

In the midst of our celebrating, however, we would be dishonest if we did not also acknowledge that there are times of significant discouragement…when important meds are nowhere to be found…when the electricity goes off in the heat of the night and a good night’s rest is desperately needed…when there is no water in the tap and we wonder when it will flow again…when we would love to connect with family, but the Internet is down and Skype doesn’t work.

But then we see again the anguish on the mothers’ faces as they bring their children, desperately hoping that someone can do something to ease their suffering.   We are then reminded that there is no place on earth we would rather be.

Thank you, for your prayers, words of encouragement and financial support that sustain us and allow us to be involved in Niger.

The Grand Opening at the CURE Niger hospital ended earlier today. There were more than 250 people in attendance. It was a hot and hazy day.

Leron Lehman kicks off the grand opening celebration at the CURE Niger hospital.

Leron Lehman, the executive director, kicked off the ceremony with a speech that was entirely in French. We enjoyed speeches by Dr. Scott Harrison, Sally Harrison and governmental officials. There were four television networks covering the ceremony.

It moved along smoothly, culminating with a ribbon cutting by Scott and Sally. Cold Cokes and cookies were served to our guests, and tours of the facility were conducted. We had a VIP lunch for the leaders of other NGOs, doctors and governmental officials.

Dr. Jean-Francois Negrini, a surgeon at the hospital, did a PowerPoint presentation and took questions.

It has been a great day for the CURE Children’s Hospital of Niger!