Senegal Medical Charity Trip, 3/10-3/20, 2022 塞内加尔医疗慈善之旅, 2022 年 3 月 10 日至 20 日

This ten-day medical charity trip to Senegal was an unforgetful experience. This trip was organized by Africa Cries Out, a charity organization based in Connecticut, and its main mission was to provide free and high quality medical care to the indigenous population who live in the remote rural areas and are in extreme poverty. The trip was long planed three years ago, but interrupted by Covid-19 outbreak. With permission from the authority of Senegal Public Health, we finally realized the plan two weeks ago.

Our medical team consisted of 4 licensed American physicians of different specialties, 5 younger volunteers, and the staff and leaders from an American church who hosted our team in its base in Dakar, Senegal. The church helped us with accommodation, transportation, translation service and connection with local people or tribes. During the ten-day trip, our 4-doctors team served ced over 300 patients and prescribed thousands of medicines every day, at local clinics, churches, leprosy village, and schools located in the rural areas. According to local tribal/village or church leaders, it was the only medical service they had received in three years.

Besides my dedication to medical services during the trip, I have also learned a lot about the rich history of Senegal, and enjoyed its unique beauty and cultures. Senegal is a country in West Africa, and has about 17 millions of population, and was a main infamous Africa slave trade center in 17th century. It has GNI of $1,430 in 2020, making it a lower-middle-income country. The standard of living in the capital Dakar and near the coast is relatively high, but there are many rural areas with extreme poverty, especially tribes/villages bordering countries such as Mali, Gambi, Guinea-Bissau, etc. If I hadn’t witnessed tribal people living in remote mountain areas near the border with Mali struggling for basic living conditions, food, water and transportation, while others in Dakar (not to mention in the US) enjoyed surfing, wine and night clubs etc, I cannot believe that there is such a huge disparity in socioeconomic status and medical resources between western countries, the capital Dakar and those poor areas we visited.

While in Senegal, I had very complicated feeling many times. when little babies of children looked at me with their innocent eyes I worried about whether their future life would be exactly like their parents or grandparents. Yet when I saw the smiling babies at the back of mothers, the brightly colorful and clean clothes even in extreme poverty, the children dancing happily in the dust, the confident young people eager to learn, and the enthusiastic local volunteers , I was inexplicably moved, and at the same time understood that my worries were unnecessary. When I saw many tall and green trees still standing firmly in scorching conditions, in the beige desert without sufficient water and nutrients, growing, flourishing and spreading, I immediately had a clear answer. Yes, those trees symbolize Senegal and its people. Their courage, belief, optimistic for their life will nourish them, and their life, culture and tradition would go on and last forever with or without help from outside.

I hope some of my photos or words will give you a sense of what I have experienced and my thoughts in Senegal.

Finally, I would like to expressed my great gratitude to Dr. Xu Jun, the president of Africa Cries Out, for his selfless efforts, leading us to successfully complete the mission, and to the friends from the Church and its base in Dakar for their tireless support during entire trip.

这次为期十天的塞内加尔医疗慈善之旅是一次难忘的经历。活动是由慈善组织 Africa Cries Out (ACO) 组织的, 其主要目的是为生活在塞内加尔偏远农村地区和处于极端贫困状态的土著居民提供免费和高质量的医疗服务。 我们早在三年前就计划了这次旅行，但因 Covid-19 爆发而中断。经塞内加尔公共卫生部门的许可，我们终于在两周前实现了这个计划。

我们的医疗团队这次由 4 名不同专业的美国执业医师、5 名年轻的志愿者，以及在塞内加尔基地接待我们团队的美国教会的工作人员和领导组成。 教会帮助我们提供住宿、交通、翻译服务以及与当地人或部落的联系。 在为期十天的行程中，我们的四位医生团队在当地诊所、教堂、麻风病村和位于农村地区的学校每天为超过300 多名患者提供服务，并开出数千例药物。 据当地部落或教会领袖说，这是他们三年来享受的唯一医疗服务。

除了致力医疗服务，我还了解了不少塞内加尔丰富的历史，领略了塞内加尔独特的美景和文化。塞内加尔是西非的一个国家，拥有约1700万人口，曾是17世纪臭名昭著的非洲主要奴隶贸易中心。2020 年它的平均国民总收入1,430 美元, 为一个中低收入国家。首都达喀尔和海岸附近的生活水平相对较高，但有许多极端贫困的农村地区，特别是与马里、甘比、几内亚比绍等国家接壤的部落/村庄。如果不是我目睹了生活在靠近马里边境偏远山区的部落人民在为基本生活条件、食物、水和交通苦苦挣扎，而达喀尔（更不用说在美国）的其他人则在享受冲浪、葡萄酒和夜总会等, 我无法相信西方国家、首都达喀尔和我们访问的那些穷困地区之间存在如此巨大的社会经济地位和医疗资源的差异。

在塞内加尔的时候, 很多次当小婴儿或小孩子用天真无邪的眼睛看着我的时候，我的心情很复杂。 我担心他们未来的生活是否与他们的父母或祖父母完全一样。 然而，当我看到妈妈身后那些笑容满面的婴儿，即使在极度贫困时仍保持色彩鲜艳的干净衣服，在尘土中快乐地跳舞的孩子，渴望学习和自信的年轻人，以及热心的当地志愿者，我有种莫名的感动, 同时也明白我的担心是多余的。 当我看到许多高大而绿意盎然的大树在灼热的条件下，在没有充足水分和养分的米色沙漠中仍然稳稳矗立，不断生长、茂盛勃发、蔓延时，我立时有了一个明确的答案。 这些树就象塞内加尔及其人民。 他们的勇气、信念、对生活的乐观将滋养他们，无论有没有外界的帮助，他们的生活, 文化和传统都会连绵不断地继续下去, 永远不会消亡。

我希望我的一些照片或文字能让你感受到我在塞内加尔经历过的事和思緒。

最后也借此机会感谢Africa Cries Out 会长徐俊医生无私的付出，带领大家圆满完成计划，以及教会的朋友的热情帮助。

We flew directly to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, by Air Senegal. The team members came from different states and cities, so we gathered at JFK before boarding and set off together. Although we have been talking for a long time through social media, most were meeting face to face for the first time. A group of strangers would spend the next ten days or more together in a non-English speaking country, literally like an adventure. However, this made everyone excited about the challenges ahead.

After 8 hour flying, we arrived at Dakar international airport around 8:00 am local time. Everything went smoothly. Custom officers were well trained and efficient. They allowed us to bring in $800, 000 worthy medicine. We purchased sim card at the airport, preparing long journey without internet and cell phone service.

As I walked out the airport door, I immediately felt heat blowing into my face . The air was very dry and the sky is a bit light brown and dusty (late I learned that fine sand from nearby desert was to blame). We were greeted at exit gate by local the church leaders and other team members who had come earlier. A rented bus took us to the base .

The base is 40 minutes from the airport. When I looked through the car window, everything seemed light brown: the sky, the road, the walls, and maybe the air. The road was better than I expected, but there were no traffic lights along the way.

It was about noon when we arrived at the base. The students and staff at the base gave us a warm African welcome ceremony. African drum accompanied a happy, energetic, lovely song (see video). Many of us couldn’t help but dance together.

The base was very well maintained and had all the necessary facilities for more than a hundred people living in. I will introduced the facility in the base in detail later. In short, it had its own deep well pumping water filtration system for daily use. There are teacher and student dormitories, dining room/kitchen, basketball court/football field, and miraculously, a fairly sizable vegetable garden.

I was assigned to share a room with other three doctors. Wow, this is the first time in my 30 years in the US to share a room with non-family members. The room is spacious enough with clean and functional toilets, and shower room that we could enjoy after work. I could feel the hospitality from the staff when I laid down the bed (see below photo). Under this circumstance, we were was very satisfied with arrangement.

我们乘坐塞内加尔航空公司直飞塞内加尔首都达喀尔。 团队成员来自不同的州和城市，所以登机前我们在肯尼迪机场集合, 一起出发。 尽管我们已经通过社交媒体进行了很长时间的交谈， 但大多数是第一次面对面见面。 一群陌生人，在一个非英语国里一起度过接下来的十天或更长时间，这真像是一种冒险。不过，这种对未来的挑战反让每个人感到兴奋。

经过 8 小时的飞行，我们于当地时间上午 8:00 左右抵达达喀尔国际机场。一切都很顺利，海关官员训练有数，很有效率。他们放行了近80万美元的药物。我们在机场购买了sim卡，准备好没有互联网和手机服务的漫长旅程。

出了机场的门，我立刻感到一股热气扑面而来。 天气非常干燥，天空有点浅褐色和尘土飞扬（后来我才知道附近沙漠的细沙是罪魁祸首）。 当地教会领袖和其他早来的团队成员在出口迎接了我们， 然后一辆租来的巴士把我们带到了基地。

该基地距机场 40 分钟路程。 当我透过车窗观看时，似乎一切都是浅褐色的：天空、道路、墙壁，也许还有空气。 道路比我想象的要好，但一路上没有红绿灯。

到达基地的时候差不多中午了。 基地的学生和工作人员为我们举行了热情洋溢的非洲式欢迎仪式。 非洲鼓伴着一首快乐、充满活力、可爱的歌曲（见视频）。我们许多人也情不自禁地一起跳起舞来。

该基地维护得非常好，拥有可供一百多人居住的所有必要设施。 我后面会详细介绍基地内的设施，简单来说，就是自有深井抽水净水系统以满足日常使用，有师生宿舍，餐厅/厨房，篮球场/足球场 ，奇迹般地，还有一个相当大的菜园。

我被安排与三位医生共用一个房间。 哇，这是我来美国三十年来第一次这样与外人共享房间。房间足够宽敞，有干净实用的厕所，和淋浴间，我们可以在下班后享受。 工作人员的热情好客我们一躺下就能感受到（见下图）。 在这种环境下，我们有对这样的安排非常满意了。

On the way back, we stopped in the downton of Saly to fix the sim card and Wi-Fi device issue. The issue was not resolved, but I got some interesting pictures, one of which was donkey a cart sharing the street with motor vehicles. As the sun set, the town was quiet peaceful, where children safely play and and ladies walked around.

Touring Saly took us 5 hours. When we came back to the base, it was almost 8:00PM. After delicious dinner prepared by the staff, our youth volunteers worked together with students at the base, packaging medicine for tomorrow’s clinic.

在回来的路上，我们在萨利市中心停留，想修复 sim 卡和 Wi-Fi 设备问题。 问题没有解决，但我拍到了一些很有意思的照片，其中一张是驴车与机动车共享街道。 夕阳西下，小镇静谧祥和，孩子们和女士们安全地玩耍和走动。

游历Saly 花了我们 5 个小时。 当我们回到基地时，已经快晚上 8:00 了。 吃完工作人员准备的美味晚餐后，我们的青年志愿者与基地的学生一起，为明天的门诊包装药品。

Our younger volunteers prepared delicious breakfast for us. After breakfast we immediately started to seeing patients at the base. The classrooms of school at the base were turned into temporary clinic and examination rooms. I was surprised that there were already over a hundred people waiting when we came. Some villagers came here as early as 5:00AM so as not to miss the opportunity to see a doctor.

The most common conditions among villagers were parasitic infestation (particularly hook warm, and ascariasis) in children, untreated hypertension and arthritis in the elderly, and back and pelvic pain in women (many related to sexually transmitted disease). The symptoms were usually obvious and it is not difficult to prescribe relevant medications.

The most difficult part of clinic is language barrier. French is the official language in Senegal, but most people, particularly who are less educated or live in poverty, speak little French and only local languages (at least five such languages in different regions). In this area, the language spoken by the villagers is Wolof. An ideal translator would know both English and Wolof, but we can’t find anyone like that. The simple solution is to have two translators help a doctor. I had a local English-French-speaking volunteer who translated my English into French, and another French-Wolof-speaking volunteer who translated French into Wolof for the villagers. I really appreciated both translators.. They tried their best to help me and the patients. Sometimes when they were not sure what I meant, they used their cell phones to google the answer. At first, I was a little concerned about the accuracy and validity of the three-language translation, but when the patient said “Jai-rruh-jef” (thank you) to me and left the room happily, I knew all of us did great job.

The clinic was scheduled to close at 5:00PM. However, no matter how quick we worked， the number of villagers in the waiting area always kept constant. We had to work much longer than planned. In the end, we had to close our clinic because everyone was so tired. Today each doctor saw more than a hundred patients. Exhausted but very rewarding.

我们年轻的志愿者为大家准备了美味的早餐。享用完早餐后，我们马上在基地始看病。 基地学校的教室变成了临时诊所和检查室。没想到我们来时已经有一百多人在等待了。据说一些村民早在早上 5:00 就来到这里，为的是不错过这个看病的机会。

村民们最常见的疾病是儿童感染寄生虫（特别是钩虫病和蛔虫病），老年人未经治疗的高血压和关节炎，以及妇女的背部和骨盆疼痛（许多与性传播疾病有关）。 症状通常很明显，开出相关药物并不困难。

门诊最困难的部分是语言障碍。法语是塞内加尔的官方语言，但大多数人特别是受教育程度较低或生活贫困的人只会说当地语言（至少有五种这样的语言）。在这个地区，村民们所说的语言是Wolof。一个理想的翻译是既懂英语又懂 Wolof ，但我们找不到这样的人。简单的解决方案是让两名翻译帮助一个医生。我有一位能讲英语-法语的当地的志愿者将我的英语翻译成法语，另一位讲法语-Wolof语的志愿者将法语翻译成Wolof给村民。我真的很感谢两位翻译。她们恪尽职守，尽最大努力帮助我和病人。有时当她们不确定我的意思时，他们会用手机搜索答案。开始时，我有点担心三种语言翻译后的准确性和有效性，但当病人对我说“Jai-rruh-jef”（谢谢）并高兴地离开房间时，我知道我们所有人都做得很到位。

门诊原定于下午 5:00 关闭。 然而，无论我们的工作做的多快，候诊区的村民人数始终保持不变， 所以我们只有超时工作。 到最后，每个人实在是太累了， 我们不得不关闭诊所。 今天大约每位医生看的病人超过一百多名。筋疲力尽，但非常有成就感。

The original plan today was to visit a church near Dakar and tour Dakar. Unfortunately, the bus broke down at the middle of the highway, and we had to transfer to another bus hours after we learnt the bus couldn’t be fixed by driver. We canceled church visit due to delay and went to Dakar directly.

It was about noon when we arrived at Dakar.  Everybody was hungry, so we went to a Portuguese/Brazilian restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was situated in a nice area, and it is stylish. We enjoyed typical Portuguese/Brazilian food including roasted beef, pork and chicken. 

After lunch, a few of us briefly toured the center of Dakar. Probably because of the sweltering heat at noon, there were not many people on the street. We passed a trading market and noticed highly artistic African wood carvings on display.

今天的最初计划是参观达喀尔附近的一座教堂并游览达喀尔。 不巧的是，租用的汽车在高速公路中间抛锚了。几小时后，我们在得知司机无法修好汽车后， 不得不换乘另一辆汽车。因为时间不够， 我们只好取消参观教堂，直接前往达喀尔。

我们到达达喀尔时已经是中午了。大家饥肠辘辘，赶紧来到一家葡萄牙/巴西餐用午餐。 餐厅位于一个不错的地区，很时尚。 我们享用了典型的葡萄牙/巴西美食，包括烤牛肉、猪肉和鸡肉。

午饭后，我们几个人短暂游览了达喀尔市中心。可能是因为中午酷热的原因, 街上来往的人并不很多。 我们路过一个贸易市场，看到展出的极具艺术性的非洲木雕。

By 3 o’clock, we had to catch the ferry to Gorée island at the ferry terminal, which was within walking distance. The ferry terminal is located in a port where many ships were stationed. The marina is very modern and seems busy. The ferry is doubled decked, clean and comfortable. During the voyage, the sea was quite and view was pleasant. It took us about 30 minutes reaching Gorée island.

到了3点钟，我们必须去渡轮码头搭乘渡轮前往Gorée岛。码头步行即可到达。渡船码头位于一个港口，有许多船只停泊在那里。 码头非常现代，显得很忙碌。 渡轮是双层甲板的，干净舒适。 航行过程中，海风平浪静，景色宜人。我们花了大约 30 分钟到达戈雷岛。

Gorée is a small island, off the coast of Dakar. It is actually volcanic rock with size of 88 acres (36 hectares). This tiny island was the site of one of the earliest European settlements in Western Africa and long served as an outpost for slave and other trading from 1536 to1848. Many believe , although debatable, Gorée was a major entrepôt for the trade or one of many centers from which Africans were taken to the Americas.  Gorée changed hands several times, but from 1817 until Senegal’s independence in 1960 it was under the control of France.  Currently only handful people live in the island, the majority of people on the island are tourist from all over the world. There are no cars , but many birds, dogs, and wild cats.

戈雷岛是达喀尔海岸外的一个小岛。 它实际上是一块火山岩，面积为 88 英亩（36 公顷）。 这个小岛是西非最早的欧洲定居点之一，从 1536 年到 1848 年，一直是奴隶和其他贸易的前哨。 许多人认为（尽管值得商榷），戈雷是奴隶贸易的主要转口港，或者是非洲人被带到美洲的众多中心之一。 戈雷几次易手，但从 1817 年到 1960 年直到塞内加尔独立，它一直处于法国的控制之下。 目前岛上只有少数人居住，岛上的大多数人都是来自世界各地的游客。 没有汽车，但有很多鸟、狗和野猫。

The ferry took us to a dock near the small beach. Since no one speaks French, we hired an English speaking tour guide.

渡轮把我们带到了小海滩附近的一个码头。 因为没有人会说法语，所以我们聘请了会说英语的导游。

Off the dock was a sizable plaza with ticket office, and coffee and gift shops. The local police station was located at the end of plaza and painted red. The streets were narrow, and lining the sides were various style houses pained with different colors, mainly yellow and red. Bougainvillea can often be seen climbing the walls on both sides of the street, unique unknown African plants growing in every corners. These architectural styles and designs are reminiscent of the culture transplantation by early European settlers, including Portuguese, French, British and maybe Dutch. you could see only Christian church, or Saint Charles Borromée church, built in 1830,  colonial houses, and Dutch door and fortress on the island. Residents were very friendly but did not like being photographed. luckily, I got permission from a mother to take photos for her little boy. Many local artists were selling their artistic work along the roads to the rock plateau Le Castel, but they never forced you to buy anything.

The tour guide led us to various interesting sites. Although I followed the tour guide most of the time, I sometimes sneaked into side streets, taking photos I liked.

码头外是一个相当大的广场，周边有售票处、咖啡店和礼品店。当地警察局位于广场尽头，漆成红色。岛上各种风格的房屋，颜色各异，主要是黄色和红色， 排立在狭窄街道的两边。 经常可以看到九重葛攀爬街道两边的墙壁，独特的不知名的非洲植物每个角落蔓延生长。这些建筑风格和设计让人想起早期欧洲定居者，包括葡萄牙、法国、英国，也许还有荷兰人的文化移植。您可以看到建于 1830 年的唯一基督教教堂或圣查尔斯博罗梅教堂、殖民时期的房屋以及岛上的荷兰门和堡垒。居民非常友好，但不喜欢被拍照。幸运的是，我得到了一位母亲的许可，为她的小男孩拍了一些照片。在通往岩石平台 Le Castel 的道路上 有许多当地艺人出售他们的艺术作品，但他们从不强迫购买任何东西。

导游带领我们到各个观光点。 我虽然大部分时间都是跟着导游走，但有时也会偷偷溜进小街，拍自己喜欢的照片。

On the rock plateau Le Castel, there were a fort with cannons left by French army during World War II. Tourists jumped around on the rusty cannons, making a variety of poses and movements. They probably didn’t know what this cannon was for and why it was here. Only the exit of cannon was facing us, silently telling us the cruelty of war. In the sky above, there were many birds flying gracefully, looking so peaceful. Yes, this is the story of war and peace on this small island, and hopefully could be understood by people. May peace be with us always.

在岩石高处平台 Le Castel，是一座炮台，有二战时法国军队留下的大炮。 游客们在锈迹斑斑的大炮上跳来跳去，做出各种各样的姿势和动作。 他们大概不知道这门大炮是干什么的，为什么会在这里。只是大炮的出口正对我们，默默地告诉我们战争的残酷。 天上，有许多鸟儿优雅地翱翔，显得那么详和。 是的，这就是这个小岛上的战争与和平的故事，希望世人能读懂它。 愿和平永远与我们同在。

The most impressive touring experience of the day was to visit the House of Slaves, or a museum.

当天最令人印象深刻的体验是参观奴隶之家或博物馆。

The slave house was originally built and owned by a slavery traders, an Afro-French woman (Anna Colas Pepin). Slaves-to-be were sent to this house, awaiting their transportation across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas in this house. Those slaves-to-be usually were war prisoners sold by the tribes, and tribal people abducted or allured by slavery traders.  The ships carried the slaves-to-be at the bottom floor, and many of whom couldn’t make it way to this house due to diseases and starvation.  Upon arrival, the slavers-to-be were imprisoned in dark, airless cells and spent days shackled to the floor. Their backs were against the walls, unable to move. If they dared not to obey the rules, they would be punished and sent to even much smaller room where they couldn’t stand or sleep.  Family members were forever separated once they were brought to this location, with men, women, and children being held in separate cells, and would be sent to different locations as slaves where they did not know each other’s destinations, unaware of each other’s destination. Young girls were forced to walk naked around the courtyard, and the traders and enslavers could rape any young girl if they liked. This house was converted into a museum in 1962, now become a testament to the human suffering and devastation caused by the slave trade. The Maison des Esclaves is a central part of the Gorée Island UNESCO World Heritage site.

After I learnt the history of this island and slave house, and had witnessed the small narrowed living places with tiny window, suffocating prisoner cells, those shackle and gun on display, I felt very bad for those who endured such inhuman treatment. There, I could almost hear their cry and feel their desperation and helpless.  I also couldn’t image how could those slavery traders treat another race in this way and how they could enjoy wine, gourmet, and playing on the second floor, while slaves-to-be at the bottom floor wept for their misery. From what I learned from history book, those slavery traders called their actions as God’s ideas and instructions. How abominable! After I walked out the house, I felt a bit guilty for what had happened here although my ancestors have nothing to do with this. This humanity’s shameful past should never be forgotten and forgiven.

奴隶之家， 最初是由一名奴隶贩子、一名非洲裔法国妇女（安娜·科拉斯·佩平饰）所建和拥有。待售奴隶们从四面八方送到在这所房子，等待穿越大西洋到达美洲。待售奴隶们通常是部落出售的战俘，以及被奴隶贩子绑架或引诱的部落人民。准奴隶装载在船的底层，其中许多人由于疾病和饥饿而死与途中。抵达后，这些准奴隶贩子被囚禁在黑暗、不通风的牢房中，并被铐在地板上数日。他们的背靠在墙上，动弹不得。如果他们不遵守规则，他们会被惩罚，关到更小的房间里，使其无法站立或睡觉。家人一被带到这个地方就永远分开了，男人、女人和孩子被关在不同的牢房里，作为奴隶被送到不同的地方，彼此不知道目的地。年轻女孩强迫在庭院里裸体行走，商人和奴隶主只要看对眼，就可以强奸任何女孩。这座房子于 1962 年被改建为博物馆，现在成为奴隶贸易给人类带来的苦难和破坏的见证，是戈雷岛联合国教科文组织世界遗产的中心部分。

当我了解了这座岛屿和奴隶屋的历史，亲眼目睹了狭小的仅有窄小窗户的奴隶间、令人窒息的牢房、展示着的镣铐和枪支后，我为那些忍受着如此不人道待遇的奴隶或准奴隶感到非常难过。在那里，我几乎可以听到他们的哭声，感受到他们的绝望和无助。我也无法想象那些奴隶贩子怎么会这样对待其他种族，他们怎么能在二楼尽情享受美酒佳肴寻欢作乐，而住在底层的奴隶贩子们却为他们的痛苦哭泣。我从历史书中了解到的，那些奴隶贩子称他们的行为是上帝的想法和指示。多么可恶。虽然我的祖先与这些丑事无关，但我走出大门后，仍然为这里曾经发生过的事感到有些愧疚。我们绝不能遗忘和原谅这个人类不耻的过去。

The Historical Museum of Senegal or IFAN Historical Museum is another unforgettable attraction. According to the guide, every year people from Jamaica (if I remember correctly) come here to cerebrate their heritage and look for their family roots. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was about 6:00PM, and the museum was closed. What a pity. I could only take some photos outside.

塞内加尔历史博物馆或 IFAN 历史博物馆是另一个令人难忘的景点。 据导游说， 每年一些来自牙买加 (如果我没记错的话）的人们都会来到这里庆祝他们的传统并寻根。 只是当我们到达那里时，时间已近晚六点，博物馆已关了。 真可惜，我只能在外面拍些照。

The remote tribe and village we planed to visit is located on the border of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, belonging to Kedougou city, over 700km from Dakar and driving for about 10 and half an hours. This was a three-day itinerary plan: day 1, driving to Kedougou; day 2, clinic; day 3 , driving back to the base.

我们计划参观的偏远部落和村庄位于几内亚比绍和塞内加尔的边境，属于克杜古市，距离达喀尔700多公里，车程约10个半小时。 这是三天的行程计划：第一天，驱车前往克多古； 第 2 天，看病； 第三天，驱车返回基地。

We got up at 5:30 am before dawn. No fancy breakfast, and everyone hit the road with chocolate bars, snacks, bananas and some water. No one complained.

We drove out of town about 30 mins. The sun rose quietly over the desert horizon, orange-yellow, blurry, but its warmth hit the heart. This is so different from what we see at sea or above the mountains. The photo was taken from the moving bus.

我们早上 5 点 30 分还没破晓时就起床了。没有豪华的早餐，大家吃些巧克力棒、小吃、香蕉和喝点水就上路， 没有人抱怨。

开车大约30分钟，出了城，看到太阳静静地升起在沙漠的地平线上，橙黄色的，模糊，但它的温暖直击人心。 这情形，与我们在海上或高山上看到的截然不同。 这张照片是从移动的公共汽车上拍摄的。

When we passed by a small town, the church leaders bought a quite few bags of rice, vegetable oils, and others for the tribe and village we were going to visit. I came off the bus for a while, taking some pictures.

Our bus stopped at a small old chapel along the way that looked like Christian church. The church leaders traveled with us gave them some medicine and rice. The pastor of the local church was very grateful and provided us with freshly fried chicken and banana.  I do not eat chicken so I went to the back of the church to meet with other people.

At noon, we had lunch at a gas station. There were only burgers and cokes available in the store. Not everyone liked it, but we had no choice。

There were several ladies working on the outdoor “kitchen” at the back of the church. It basically just was a frying pan over the rocks and heated by burning loose woods. On the side, there was a big sign, the Star of David, a Jewish or Judaism symbol, on the wall of storage cottage, that caught my eyes.  I couldn’t figure out if this church is Christian or Judaism, or simply the worshipers were Jewishes. I did not ask them this question, out of respect their religion and privacy.

I met a younger man who worked for the church and could speak a little bit English.  He asked me called him Adama. While our communication might not be very effective, it did not bother us to chat and share our thoughts.  He ole me that he wanted to go to school to have better education so he could support his family. At the end he asked me to visit his home, which was just a hundred feet away. I went with him and met his wife who was cooking rice at outdoor “kitchen”. She friendly asked me to have lunch with them. She had big belly and apparently was pregnant. I congratulated them and left a cash gift as my blessing for their unborn baby.

当我们经过一个小镇时，教会领袖买了好几袋大米、植物油等， 准备送给我们要去的部落和村庄。 当其他人在车上等时，我下去了一会，拍了些照片。

中午我们在一个加油站吃了午饭。店里只有汉堡和可乐。 尽管不是每个人都喜欢，但我们别无选择， 只能是它了。

我们的巴士沿途停在一座古老的小教堂， 看起来像基督教教堂，和我们一起旅行的教会领袖给了他们一些药物和大米。教会的牧师非常感谢，并为我们提供了鲜炸的鸡和香蕉。我不吃鸡肉，所以我去教堂后面会会其他人。

教堂后面有几位女士在户外“厨房”工作。它基本上是在岩石上架一个平底锅，用松散的木头来燃烧加热。在旁边储藏室的墙上，有一个大大的大卫之星或犹太人或犹太教的标记，吸引了我的眼球。我不知道这个教堂是基督教还是犹太教，或者只是信奉者是犹太人。我没有问他们这个问题，以尊重他们的宗教和隐私。

我遇到了一个为教会工作的也会说一点英语的年轻人。他让我叫他阿达玛。虽然我们的交流沟通不是很有效，但这并没有影响我们聊天和分享我们的想法。他告诉我他想去学校接受更好的教育，以便养家糊口。最后，他邀请我去在近一百英尺外的他家看看。我和他一起去见了他在户外“厨房”煮饭的妻子。她非常友好地请我和他们共进午餐。她的肚子很大，显然是身怀六甲。我向他们表示祝贺，并给他们未出生的婴儿留下了一份现金礼物作为我的祝福。

After nearly 12 hours on the bus, we finally arrived at Kédougou at 6:30PM. Kédougou is a town in the Kédougou Region of south-eastern Senegal near the borders of Mali and Guinea. Founded in the early 20th century by the Malinké people, Kédougou means the “Land of Man”.

Our hotel was located at the edge of the town, next to river Gambie. It might be rated 3 stars in USA, but in the local, it is among a few 5 star hotels. All rooms are in the doom-shaped and tent-like cabins. Room has all necessary facilities , clean, but not well serviced. There is a small gorgeous outdoor swimming pool, and bar/restaurant is excellent. We did not expect we could have such treatment in such a rural area.

I shared a room with Dr. Wang. He is a pain management specialist, a humorous and warm-hearted gentleman. Lucky to be roommate with him for two nights.

坐了将近12个小时的大巴，我们终于在下午6点30分到达了凯杜古(Kédougou)。 凯杜古是塞内加尔东南部凯杜古地区的一个城镇，靠近马里和几内亚边境。 凯杜古由马林克人于 20 世纪初建立，意为“人的土地”。

我们的酒店位于凯杜古城边缘，毗邻甘比河。 它在美国可能被评为 3 星级，但在当地，它是少数 4-5 星级酒店之一。 所有房间都在圆顶形和帐篷状的小屋中。 房间有所有必要的设施，干净，但服务却是不敢恭维。中间有一个小但漂亮的室外游泳池，里面的酒吧/餐厅不错。 我们没想到在这样的农村地区可以有这样好的待遇。

我和王医生共享一个房间。 他是一位疼痛管理专家，一位幽默且暖心的绅士。 很幸运能和他成为两天的室友。

Our two destinations today were a remote tribe and leprosy clinic/village. The tribe is two hours away from the hotel, so we set off at 6:30am, hoping we could finish our mission there in the morning .

About an hour later, the bus stopped at the entrance of an unpaved small road. Looking around, you would see brownish barren land with growing bushes, small trees without leaves, dying or dry grasses, and scattered mango trees. It is not a desert, but typical of African land. The sun was burning everything, the soil, the air and our bodies, and the temperature reached up to 106F. As you can image, no one could survive here without shadow and water. Obviously the bus could not go further on this kind of road. We had to switch to a truck.

A group of about 20 people of us boarded on the truck with food, water, and medicine. The journey was full of surprises: bumps, unexpected hit by tree branches, and scorching heat. While the youngsters got very excited by this adventure, many of us wanted to get over this as soon as possible. Unfortunately, not as we wished, the truck got stuck suddenly in the dry riverbed. We had to get off the tuck and took out some heavy stuff so the truck could move out the riverbed.

The truck took us again to the tribe. When I saw the dry and dead bamboo, I knew we were not far from the village. At the time, I couldn’t help but wonder, how did the tribe survive such extreme heat and drought, and why would they live here? There must be a story here tp explain it, but we probably would never know.

我们今天的两个目的地是一个偏远的部落另加麻风病诊所/村庄。 部落离酒店有两个小时的路程，所以我们一大早6:30出发，希望我们能在早点完成我们的任务。

大约1个小时后，大巴停在了一条未铺砌的小路的入口处。 环顾四周，你会看到褐色贫瘠的土地，灌木丛生，没有叶子的小树，枯死或干枯的野草，还有散落的芒果树。 它不是沙漠，而是典型的非洲土地。 太阳正在灼烧一切，土壤、空气和我们的身体，温度达到了105 华氏度。可以想象, 没有避阴处和水，没有人可以在这里生存。 显然，大巴不可能在这种道路上开进去, 我们只好换乘卡车。

我们一行大约 20 人带着食物、水和药品登上这辆卡车。一 路上充满了惊喜：颠簸，意外被树枝撞到，被酷热灼伤。 虽然年轻人对这种冒险感到非常兴奋，但我们中的许多人都希望尽快过去。不幸的是，卡车并非如我们所愿，突然卡在了干涸的河床上。 我们不得不下车并取出一些重物，这样卡车才驶出河床。

卡车再次把我们载向部落。 当我看到枯死的竹子时，我知道我们我知道我们离村庄不远了。当时, 我不禁想，部落是如何在如此极端的高温和干旱条件下生存下来的，他们为什么要住在这里？这里面一定有故事，但我们可能永远不会知道。

After the truck rolled over a hill, the tribal village came into view. This village was discovered about 20 years ago by Ana Anderson, a pioneer female Christian missionary from Portugal. She is a member of a American church, one of the organizers of this event. Anna’s heroinic deeds can be read on the website below: https://africacriesout.net/selling-all-your-possessions-and-following-god-the-story-of-pastor-anderson-paim-and-ms-andressa-paim/. Prior to this, Senegalese government had no official record of the tribe nor communication with the village. I do not know if the village ever has an official name, but I know they are Bassrai people, mainly inhabiting on the borders of Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. As we approached the gate (not real a gate, just a few large decorating stones), two female villagers, wearing colorfully costumes, waved their hands to welcome us.  The truck was parked in front of a small house functioning as clinic and or school, donated by Africa Cries Out.  Due to delay on the road, it was already 1:30PM when we started clinic. Almost all our patients were women and kids because men were working in field during daytime.  Again, the vast majority were common diseases:  kids with parasitic infestation and malnutrition, and women with various pains.  According to the chief, this was the first time they had seen doctors in three years. 

After a short clinic, the tribal chief took us on a tour of his territory. The village was not that big, probably only 5 acres in size, and had about 200 people.  The houses were traditional tent-like or dome-shaped hut roofed with straw, with walls made of either earth or grass. The chief ‘s “palace” included a small earthen hut enough for a large bed, an outdoor kitchen, a small chicken house, and a “meeting hall” covered with straw/grass roof. There was Wi-Fi receiver in the middle of village, a sign of communication between old tradition and modern civilization.  Their water supply relied on three deep wells in the village because there were no rivers or other water sources nearby. The water from wells was neither filtered nor monitored, and the residents had been drinking that is smelly, slightly turbid, and likely heavy metals and microbials-contaminated. We were advised never to try well water or we would be sick for the rest of the trip (this happened several years ago).  Due to its isolation, poor irrigation condition, and growing population, the village has been in short supply of food, clean water, salt and sugar, etc.  We brought a lot of rice, medicines, vegetables, cooking oil, and sugar, etc.. , to relieve the shortage.

卡车翻过一座小山，部落村庄即呈现在我们的眼前。这个村庄是在大约 20 年前由一位来自葡萄牙的女基督教传教士先驱安娜·安德森（Ana Anderson) 发现的。她是我们这次活动的组织者之一的教会的成员。安娜的英雄行为可以在下面联接的网站上阅读:https://africacriesout.net/sales-all-your-possessions-and-following-god-the-story-of-pastor-anderson-paim-and-ms-andressa-paim/。在此之前，塞内加尔政府没有这个的部落官方记录. 也没有和这个村庄有任何交流。我不知道这个村子有没有正式的名字，但我知道他们是主要居住在加纳、冈比亚、几内亚和几内亚比绍边境的巴萨莱人。当我们快到门口时（其实称不上大门， 只是几块装饰性的大石头而已)，两名穿着五颜六色服装的女村民挥手欢迎我们。卡车停在一座由Africa Cries Out 捐赠的用作为诊所和/或学校的小房子前。由于路上延误，我们开始诊所的时候已经是下午1:30。因是白天, 男人在野外工作, 所以来的病人几乎都是妇女和儿童。同样，绝大多数是常见疾病：患有寄生虫感染和营养不良的儿童，以及患有各种疼痛的女性。据酋长/村长说，这是他们三年来第一次看到医生。

短暂的门诊后，酋长/村长带我们参观了他的领地。村子不大，大概只有5公顷左右，村民大概两百人。房子是传统的帐篷式或圆顶形小屋，屋顶是稻草，墙壁由泥土或草垒成。酋长的“宫殿”包括一个足以容纳一张大床的小土屋、一个户外厨房、一个小鸡房和一个被草顶覆盖的“会议厅”。村子中央有Wi-Fi接收器，标志着古老传统与现代文明的交流。因为附近没有河流或其他水源, 他们的供水主要靠村里的三口深井。井里的水既没有过滤也没有监测，居民们一直在喝这样有异味，有点混浊，可能有重金属和微生物污染的水。我们被告知千万不要尝试井水，否则会在接下来的行程中躺平(几年前发生过这样的事)。由于偏僻，灌溉条件差，加上人口不断增长，村里的食物、净水、盐和糖等物资一直短缺。我们带了不少大米、药品、蔬菜、食用油、糖等，以解燃眉之急。

The chief was a nice gentleman in his 50.  He also was a religion leader, who controlled all aspects of the residents’ lives, including food distribution, medical care using old fashion way (voodoo), and birth, aging and death process.  After converting to Christianity, he was educated and trained by the church, and now could speak and read a bit English. Because of this, he became a “barefoot doctor” who was able to give western medicine to his people.  He said he had only one wife and ten kids, living happily.

酋长/村长50多岁，是个和善的绅士。他曾经也是当地的宗教领袖，掌管着居民生活的方方面面，包括食物分配、用巫医 (巫毒) 治病, 及生老病死。 改信基督教后，他接受了教会的教育和训练，现在能说会读一点英语。 这样， 他又成为了一名“赤脚医生”，为他的人民提供西药。 他说他只有一个妻子和十个孩子，过着幸福的生活。

The tour took us only 20 mins.  In the end we were brought to a shadowed place under a big tree, where many villagers waiting to welcome and thank us.  The children were happily dancing around, signing African songs, and laughing loudly. The women were dressed in brightly colored traditional clothes and the elders friendly spoke their own language to us. Although the ground was sandy, and air is bit dusty, everyone’s appearance was pretty, clean, and neat.  I was touched by their optimism and good spirit about life under such harsh condition.  Our young volunteers apparently were moved too, joining in dancing and singing in their celebration.  At that moment, I felt that everything we had encountered on the journey and what we had done was worth it  We do not have power to change the world, but at least we can do our best to help those in need so that everyone can enjoy a moment of joy.

我们只花了20 分钟参观完了整个村庄。最后，我们被带到一棵大树的浓荫下，那里有许多村民等着欢迎和感谢我们。 孩子们开心地跳着舞，唱着非洲歌曲，开怀大笑。 妇女们穿着色彩鲜艳的传统服饰，年长者对我们说着他们自己的语言, 很友好。 虽然地面是沙子，空气中有些尘土，但每个人的外表亮丽，干净，整洁。 我被他们在如此恶劣的条件下他们对生活的乐观和良好的精神所感动。 我们年轻的志愿者显然也被感动了，加入了他们庆祝的舞蹈和唱歌。 这一刻，我觉得旅途中所遭遇到的一切都是值得的。 我们没有能力改变世界，但至少可以尽力帮助有需要的人，让每个人可以享受一刻的欢乐。

We had to leave the tribal village at 3:00PM for our next stop, the leprosy village. It is located at Fatiga, Kedougou province, 250 km away from the nearest hospital, and 700 km away from Dakar. This leprosy village is a neglected areas in terms of medical resources, due to its remote location and fear of leprosy.  Africa Cries Out has set up a clinic here to help patients and other local residents with their basic medical needs.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease by germ called Mycobacterium leprae. It infects the skin, mucosa and nerves, and spreads throughout the body. In severe or advanced disease, patients may develop hand and foot deformities and facial disfiguration, which are embarrassing changes in the appearance, or “stigma “, of this disease. In 2020, in Senegal, reported leprosy case number was 191.(https://knoema.com/atlas/Senegal/topics/Health/Communicable-Diseases/Leprosy-cases). However, the actual number is probably much higher, as in this village alone there are at least 30 lepers, but there are 9 similar leprosy villages in the area.

The clinic campus we visited has an spacious courtyard, a clinic building, a supply room, and a house for the manager, Pastor Ana Anderson, who I mentioned only as heroinic missionary lady. Given up her comfortable life in Portugal, Ana spent most of her life to serve those less fortunate people in this remote village.

Our medical service was held at the clinic building. We only focused on general medical or health conditions, not intending to treat leprosy because the leprosy patients have already been under care of local specialists. During the 4-hour clinic, we attended more than 3 hundreds of patients with various conditions.  We did not have chance for water or food, and no air conditioners or fans at room temperature over 100 F. The local volunteer translators, and young volunteer assistant form USA, Rachel, worked very hard with out a single complaint. As we walked out of the clinic, many children greeted us, waving their hands, and jubilantly jumping and dancing.

In the courtyard, we had an opportunity to closely look at those patients with leprosy. Honestly, I had never seen a leper in person in my entire life.  There really is no comparison between seeing a real patient and looking at a textbook picture.  I saw that many patients already lost their fingers and toes, and some of them with facial changes (but not yet disfigured). The was much better than I expected, which meant that there was a well-established system here to treat and manage these patients. The patients welcomed and thanked us with their own ways. Although I am not a Christian, I pray for those people. When we were  departing from the clinic, the kids blocked the door and did not want us to leave (see video at the end).

因为要去麻风村， 我们只好在下午 3:00 离开部落。下一站的麻风村，位于凯杜古省法蒂加，距离最近的医院 250 公里，距离达喀尔 700 公里。此处地处偏远，又有麻风病， 所以在医疗资源方面是被忽视之地。Africa Cries Out 在这里设立了诊所，以帮助患者和其他当地居民的基本医疗需求。

麻风病是麻风分枝杆菌的慢性传染病。 它感染皮肤、粘膜和神经，并扩散到全身。 在严重或晚期疾病中，患者可能会出现手足残缺和面部畸形，成为此病的难堪外观改变。2020 年，塞内加尔报告的麻风病例数为 191 例（https://knoema.com /atlas/Senegal/topics/Health/Communicable-Diseases/Leprosy-cases）。但是，实际数字可能要高得多，因为仅在这个村庄，至少有 30 名麻风病人，但在这个地区还有 9 个类似的麻风村。

我们驻诊的诊所园区有一个宽敞的庭院、一个诊所大楼、供应室和一个管理员的住宅，也就是我只提到作为英雄传教士的安娜安德森牧师的房子。 安娜放弃了在葡萄牙的舒适生活，大部分时间都住在这里，在这个偏远的村庄为那些不幸的人服务。

我们的门诊设在诊所大楼。 我们只看一般的疾病或健康问题，没计划治疗麻风病，因为麻风病患者已由当地专科医生负责照看。在4小时的门诊时间里，我们照看了300多名各种情况的患者。 中间我们没有时间喝水或吃东西，在超过 100 华氏度的室温下也没有空调或风扇。 当地的志愿者翻译和来自美国的年轻志愿者Rachel 工作非常努力，没有一句抱怨。 当我们结束门诊走出诊所时，许多孩子挥舞着他们的手，兴高采烈地蹦蹦跳跳, 友好地向我们打招呼。

走到院子里，我们有机会近距离观察那些麻风病人。 说实在，在我的一生中我从未亲眼见过麻风病患者，看到真实的患者和看教科书图片真的没有可比性。我看到很多病人已经失去了他们的手指和脚趾，其中一些人有面部变化（但还没有毁容）。 这比我预期的要好得多，意味着这里有一个完善的系统来治疗和管理这些患者。 患者用自己的方式欢迎和感谢我们。 虽然我不是基督徒，但我也要为那些人祈祷。 当我们要走时，孩子们挡住了门，不想我们离开（见最后的视频)。

As planned, we returned to the base at Dakar today. We left the hotel very early as it was more than 10 hour drive. Maybe it was too tired yesterday, many people fell in sleep on the bus and it was rather quiet for a while until the bus stopped at Niokolo-Koba National Park.

Monkeys and rhinos! Someone shouted out once the bus stop the engine. Everybody woke up and rushed out of the bus. There were dozens of monkeys jumping around, and several rhinos clumsily walking towards us. They did not seem to be afraid of us, stared at the food in our hands, and quickly took it away when we dropped it on the ground.

按计划，今天我们返回达喀尔基地。 因为开车时间要10 小时，所以我们很早离开酒店。 也许昨天太累了，很多人在大巴昏昏欲睡。直到大巴停在 Niokolo-Koba 国家公园之前， 车里相当安静。

猴子和犀牛！ 车一熄火，有人喊了出来。 所有人都醒了，冲出了大巴。 周围有几十只猴子在蹦蹦跳跳，还有几头犀牛笨拙地朝我们走来。 他们似乎不怕我们，盯着我们手里的食物，把我们把食物丢在地上的时候迅速叼走。

Niokolo-Koba National Park is on the way to Dakar, and highway N7 is right cross it. It is located in a well-watered area along the banks of the Gambia river, and the gallery forests and savannahs of this National Park have a very rich fauna. If we stayed the park long enough, we would not only see monkeys or chimpanzees, but also many large animals like Derby elands (largest of the antelopes), lions, leopards and elephants, and small ones like birds, reptiles and amphibians. Those monkeys and rhinos are a very small portion of ecosystem here. It is pitifully that we could only spent an hour in this park and had to leave. When I was urged to get on the bus by our leader, suddenly I noticed a series of surprising actions of a monkey. I didn’t think much about it, and quickly shot continuously (see pictures below).

Niokolo-Koba 国家公园在通往达喀尔的路上，N7 高速公路公路横穿而过。 它位于冈比亚河沿岸的一个水源充足的地区，其多样性的森林和大草原有非常丰富的动物群。 如果我们在公园足够的时间停留，我们不仅会看到猴子或黑猩猩，还会看到许多大型动物，如德比大羚羊（最大的羚羊）、狮子、豹子和大象，以及鸟类、爬行动物和两栖动物等小型动物。 那些猴子和犀牛只是这里生态系统的一小部分。 可惜我们只能在这个公园里呆了一个小时，就不得不离开了。当我被我们的领队催促着上车时，突然发现了一只猴子的神操作。没有多想，赶紧连拍（见下图）。

This series of action pictures of a monkey, our biological cousin, depicted a sad consequence of human intrusion into animals’ natural inhabits and environmental damage caused by human activities. Those monkeys should live on tree-covered lands, feeding themselves with fruits, and drinking natural water, not eating the garbage foods left by humans.  Humans are gradually destroying the natural ecosystem, even in remote areas of this undeveloped country. The park has been listed as a World Heritage in Danger since 2007 by United Nation, in the hope that this is a wake-up call to the seriousness and urgence of protecting our planet.

After another two-hour driving, we made very short stop at the center city, Tambacounda, the largest city in eastern Senegal, 400 kilometres (250 mi) southeast of Dakar. It is the regional capital of the province of the same name. We only stopped for 15 minutes and didn’t get a chance to walk around. I took a few random pictures in the city center and video on the moving bus (see the video at the end of gallery).

这个我们的生物学表亲猴子的系列行动图片描绘了人类入侵动物自然居住地和人类活动造成环境破坏的可悲后果。 那些猴子应该生活在树木覆盖的土地上，以百果为食，饮天然之水，而不是吃人类留下的垃圾食品。 人类正在逐渐破坏自然生态系统，即使是在这个不发达国家的偏远地区也不能幸免。 该公园已于 2007 年被联合国列为濒危世界遗产，这是对保护我们星球的严肃性和紧迫性敲响的警钟。

又过了两个小时的车程，我们在坦巴昆达是塞内加尔东部最大的城市坦巴昆达的市中心做了短暂的停留。坦巴昆达位于达喀尔东南 400 公里（250 英里）处。 它是同名省的地区首府。我们只停了15分钟，没有机会四处走走。 我在市中心随便拍了几张照，在开动的大巴上拍摄了视频。

Once passed the city into countryside, I could immediately notice a significant difference . The countryside are those typical African rural area. The houses were old fashioned, tent-like or domes like we saw in the tribes. Maybe those villages were just individual tribes. The land was brownish with scattered trees and lack of water. The roads largely were unpaved and dusty. Only one thing that has the similar appearance and style whether urban and rural is the Mosque, which is always clean, tall, and solemn. This reflects the importance of the religion in their lives and sincerity of their beliefs. The following picture of Mosque in the countryside was taken from a moving bus, so please pardon the quality. 

过了城市进入乡村，我可以立即注意到两者显着的差异。 农村是那些典型的非洲农村地区。 房子是老式的，像帐篷或圆顶，就像我们在部落看到的一样。 也许那些村庄也是个别部落群。 土地呈褐色，零星的树木三三俩俩，缺少水源。 道路基本未铺砌，尘土飞扬。 只有一件，无论城市还是乡村，其外观和风格大同小异，那就是清真寺， 它总是干净、高大、庄严。 这反映了宗教在他们生活中的重要性和他们对信仰的真挚。 以下农村清真寺的照片是从移动的大巴上拍摄的，所以质量还请原谅。

We took a short break at the roadside near a farm when we approached our base at Dakar. Not many people came out for fresh air, but I took this opportunity to find interesting scene or scenery. In a nearby farm, I found a heart-warming moment of Donkey and her baby. What a beautiful love of a mother!

快到达喀尔时，我们在一个农场附近的路边短暂休息。 出来呼吸新鲜空气的人并不多，但我借此机会寻找有意思的场面或风景。 在附近的一个农场里，我发现了驴子和她的宝宝的温馨时刻。 舐犊情深，母爱伟大啊！

Sunset before boarding on the bus. The sunset was as warm as dawn,  but had more desolate feeling like on Mars.

上车前夕阳西下。 夕阳温暖如晨曦，但更多的却是火星般的荒凉。

Our clinic on this day was at a nearby elementary school, only 30-minute driving distance from the base. It is quite small school and only one row of 6-room single story buildings.

这一天我们的门诊设在附近的一所小学里。学校离基地只有30分钟的车程。这是一所很小的学校，只有一排有6个房间的单层建筑。

Lovely students, mostly younger than 10, welcomed us at the entrance and courtyard. They are so innocent and friendly as angels. Notice that everyone had clean and colorful outfits, and appeared happy.

可爱的学生们，他们大多小于 10 岁，在入口处和操场里欢迎我们。 他们是如此的天真和友好，像个小天使。 每个人都穿着干净、色彩鲜艳的衣服，看得出他们都很开心。

The classrooms were temporarily converted to clinics. There were so many patients to attend, so we had to worked very efficiently. With 4-5 hours, each of us saw nearly a hundred of patients. Our young volunteer really helped us a lot; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see so many patients.

教室暂时改成了诊所。 需要看的病人太多了，所以我们必须非常高效地工作。 在 4 到 5 个小时内，我们每个人看了近 100 名患者。 我们年轻的志愿者确实是在帮了我们很多忙， 否则我们看不了这么多的病人。

It is relatively earlier than usual when we got back to the base. We decided to go to Dakar for a nice dinner, treating ourselves for our hard work.

The restaurant was right on a beach cliff in the center city of Dakar. It was sunset when we arrived, and view was incredible beautiful. The restaurant offered lots of seafood and other Western styled foods, but no local food I wanted to try, which was a bit of disappointment to me. I ordered seafood but it didn’t taste quite right as the prawns, crabs and clams were probably frozen and not fresh. However, local beer was fantastic, and tasted very unique. Overall this dinning is memorable, not because we loved the food here, rather we had lovely chat about the history and culture while enjoying beautiful night view of Dakar beach.

After dinner, on the way to the bus, I couldn’t resist buying a handcrafted wooden basket from a street vendor. It is very artistic, delicate and extremely decorative. See my photos as testimony.

我们回到基地的时间比平时要早一些。我们决定去达喀尔找一家好点的餐厅，来一顿丰盛的晚餐为我们的幸苦犒劳一下自己。

餐厅在达喀尔市中心的海滩悬崖之上。 我们到达的时候是日落时分，景色美得难以言述。餐厅提供很多海鲜和其他西餐，但没有我想尝试的当地美食，这让我有点失望。 我点了海鲜，可是味道不是很对口，因为用的虾、螃蟹和蛤蜊可能是冷冻的，而不是鲜活的。 不过，当地的啤酒很棒，而且味道非常独特。总的说来，这次用餐令人难忘，倒不是因为我们喜欢这里的食物，而是我们边欣赏达喀尔海滩美丽的夜景，边海阔天空地聊历史， 聊文化。

晚饭后，在去大巴的路上，我忍不住从街头小贩那里购买了手工制作的木篮。 它非常艺术，精致和极其装饰性。 我有照片为证。

Never thought about when we were going back, but the reality was that our flight back would be two days later. To comply the flight requirements, we need a Covid-19 PCR test 48 hours in advance. At 8:00am, the bus took us to the Pasteur Institute of Dakar. However, as soon as the testing center was open, we were told that the flight to USA now required to be tested no earlier than 24 hours before departure, which meant this morning was a waste of time and we would have to be here again tomorrow.

从来没有想过我们什么时候要回去，但现实是我们回去的航班是两天后。 为了符合飞行要求，我们需要提前 48 小时进行 Covid-19 PCR 测试。这天上午 8:00钟，大巴的把我们带到了达喀尔巴斯德研究所测病毒。 但是，一开门，我们被告知飞往美国的航班现在需要在起飞前 24 小时之前进行测试，这意味着今天白来了，我们明天还要到这里再来一趟。

After unsuccessful attempt for testing, we directly drove to another church for clinic. At the door, the pastor and many local people welcomed us. The church appears new, and there were no furniture like tables or benches inside. We had to divide the room into 6 sperate areas for our clinics and pharmacy using plastic sheeting. The clinic lasted about 4 hours until we ran out medicine.

检测未成，我们直接开车去另一教堂门诊。牧师和当地民众在门口欢迎我们。 教堂看起来很新，但里面没有家具如桌椅板凳。我们只好用塑料布将房间分成 6 个独立区域，供我们的门诊和药房使用。门诊持续了大约 4 个小时，直到我们药用完了才结束。

After finishing clinic and returning to the base, we held a brief donation ceremony for the donated stuff brought from USA. The donated items included shoes, cell phone and laptops. Most of these shoes were collected by the “Shoes for Africa Kids ” club from USA. My Younger son, Kenny, was the president of this club. He brought hundreds of pairs of shoes all the way from USA. Another girl, Rachael, also brought many new shoes.  It was so happy to see that many Senegalese kids now could wear sneakers to play soccer or basketball without fear of injury.

结束门诊回到基地，我们为从美国带来的捐赠物质举行了简短的捐赠仪式。 捐赠的物品包括鞋子、手机和笔记本电脑。 这些鞋子大部分是由美国“非洲儿童鞋捐赠”俱乐部收集的。 我的小儿子肯尼是这个俱乐部的主席。 他从美国一路带来了数百双鞋到这里。 另一位女孩瑞秋也带来了许多新鞋。 很高兴看到很多塞内加尔孩子现在可以穿上运动鞋去踢球或打篮球，不怕受伤了。

After the donation ceremony, our group had a tour to the base. The base is about ten acres, originally bought by a church. The primary use of the land is to build schools and medical facilities. Twenty years later, a technical school, student and staff dormitories, multifunctional general buildings (kitchen, meeting room, and guest rooms), a small clinic and vegetable garden have been built.

捐赠仪式结束后，一行人参观了基地。 基地大概有十亩，原本是教会买的。这块地的主要用途是建造学校和医疗设施。 20年后，现已建成技术学校、学生和教职工宿舍、通用建筑（厨房、会议场所和客房）、一个小诊所和菜园。

The clinic is located next to the entrance for the convenience of patients. It is small but has all the necessary facilities, including an outpatient desk, exam room, delivery room, neonatal incubator, and short term inpatient room. It serves 10-30 patients a day and is almost free to local people (costs covered by the church and ACO). This clinic was founded by the late Dr. Idrissa Faye. Dr. Faye gave up the opportunity to be rich by working at urban area to become rich, and and scarified his life to serve the population in poverty. He died at the age of 58 on his way to the leprosy village due to complications of heart disease/diabetes. In honor of his dedication and his scarification to his beloved cause, the interior of his office has been kept original although the office is now used by the current in-house doctor. You can read incredibly story about Dr. Faye at https://africacriesout.net/the-sunset-in-senegal/

为了方便患者，诊所设在入口旁边。 麻雀虽小，五脏俱全，它有所有必要的设施，包括门诊台、体检室、产房、新生儿保育箱和短期住院室。 它每天为 10-30 名患者提供服务，对当地人几乎免费（费用由教会和 Africa Cries out 承担)。这个诊所由已故Idrissa Faye医生创建。Faye 医生放弃了在市区工作致富的机会，为服务这里的穷人牺牲了自己的一生。由于心脏病/糖尿病并发症，他不幸死于去麻风村出诊的路上，享年 58 岁。 为了纪念他对他心爱的事业的奉献，尽管他的办公室现由驻诊医生使用，但办公室内部一直保持原样。 您可以在下面的网站里阅读有关 Faye 博士的令人难以忘怀的故事。https://africacriesout.net/the-sunset-in-senegal/

The vegetable garden was originally used to grow vegetable for food, and late it became another classroom for students to learn how to culture greens and maintain a vegetable garden. It is really amazing how green the vegetables could grow in such a drought area.

菜园最初是用来种植蔬菜的，后来变成了学生们学习如何种植绿色蔬菜和维护菜园的另一个教室。 在如此干旱的地区，蔬菜能长得如此绿意盎然，真是太神奇了。

Around 6:00PM we went to a Chinese family who live and work at the Dakar as invited guests.

The family lived not far and only within 5- minute driving distance from the base. Their house and factory were in the same enclosed property. The host and hostess were very nice couple. Originally came from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, they have been operating a family business in construction painting supply in Dakar for several years and have been quite successful. The host is a great cooker, and prepared a remarkable delicious Chinese food enough for a party of more than a dozen of people. Everyone agreed that this was the best food we had since we were at Senegal.

The couple are devout Christians. During the dinner, they told us their story about their life and entrepreneur experiences. From the bottom of my heart, I admire them. They do not have too much education. After graduating from middle school, they had satisfactory careers and undesirable lifestyles in Wenzhou. With their family’s support of 10,000 Chinese yuan and their Christianity belief, the couple went to Congo (Kinshasa) for their life change adventure. After near ten years of hard work, they have found business opportunity at Senegal, had their own business, at the same time have had two lovely sons. Now their business controls a third of supply of the construction painting in Senegal. It is an inspiring story about a young couple with their desires for a better life and strong and sincere religion belief in becoming better persons. I sincerely hope they would accept a blessing from me, a non-Christian.

下午6:00左右，我们受邀去了一个在达喀尔生活和工作的中国家庭聚餐。

这家人住得不远，只有5分钟车程。 他们的房子和工厂在同一个围墙内。 主人和女主人是非常和善的一对。 他们最初来自浙江省温州，在达喀尔经营建筑涂料供应的家族企业已有数年，并且相当成功。 主人是个厨艺高手，准备了足够给十几个人聚会的美味中餐。 大家都认为这是我们到了塞内加尔以来吃过的最好的食物。

这对夫妇是虔诚的基督徒。 晚宴上，他们向我们讲述了他们的人生故事和创业经历。 我发自内心的钦佩他们。 他们没有受过太多教育。 中学毕业后，他们在温州事业不顺，生活方式也不尽如人意。 靠了家人的10000人民币元支持和他们的基督教信仰，这对夫妇前往刚果（金沙萨）打拼，希望一搏以改变人生。 经过近十年的努力，他们在塞内加尔找到了商机，有了自己的事业， 同时又生养了两个可爱的儿子。 现在，他们的业务控制着塞内加尔三分之一的建筑涂料供应。 对美好的生活渴望和来自于强烈而真诚的宗教信仰成为一个更好的人，造就了一对年轻夫妇的励志故事。我真诚地希望他们能接受我这个不是基督徒的祝福。

It’s our last day in Senegal, but our schedule is still tight. The first thing to do is go to Dakar to get a Covid-19 PCR test done. We went very early to where we went yesterday. This time it went smoothly, and the results were available in 4 hours. Everyone hoped that no one would be positive, otherwise it is unimageable to leave someone behind here.

After testing, we stopped for breakfast at a downtown bakery, La Gondole. My breakfast is my favorite croissant, and I grabbed a couple of roast beef sandwiches for lunch.

这是在塞内加尔的最后一天，但我们的日程仍然很紧。 要做的第一件事是去达喀尔做完 Covid-19 PCR 测试。 我们很早就去了昨天的去的地方。 这次很顺利，4小时后就可以出结果了。大家都希望没有人会阳性，否则留下一个人在这里是不可想象的。

做完测试，我们在市中心的法式面包店停下来吃早餐。 我的早餐是我最喜欢的羊角面包，顺手买了几个烤牛肉三明治当午餐。

While I was waiting on the bus for others to have breakfast, I took some pictures of people crossing the intersection in front of me using my iPhone. Obviously, the resolution of the iPhone pictures is a far cry from that of the Nikon D800+AFS 24-70mm F2.8 E ED that I used the most on this trip.

当我在公共汽车上等别人吃早餐时，我用iPhone拍了一些从我面前过十字路口的人们的照片。显然，iPhone图片的分辨率与我这次旅行中用得最多的尼康D850+AFS 24-70mm F2.8E ED的照片分辨率相差甚远。

The photos below were taken at different locations and at different times, and since I’m showing pictures of people, I might as well show them here.

以下图片是在不同地点、不同时间拍摄的，由于我是在展示人物的照片，所以我不妨在这里顺便展示一下。

Had enough energy, we quickly drove back to the base and changed our clothes. The clinic on this day was in a small village, about an hour away from the base. It was an extremely hot day, but oddly we didn’t sweat. I think it’s the hot, dry air that immediately sucks the sweat away and makes us feel less sweaty. When we got to the village, men, women and children were waiting for us in a tent and under a big tree. The tree, estimated to be thirty feet tall, stood abruptly in the middle of the village. I later learned from my 83-year-old patient that the tree was that tall when he was born. I guess the tree is at least 100 years old. According to the gentleman, the tree is the symbol of the village.

The clinic was very busy. The patients’ conditions were quite similar to that elsewhere, and there a were many patients with hypertension. I was sadden and shocked to learn that many hypertensive patients had never been treated and some had stopped taking their medication due to financial hardship. One patient had blood pressure of 200/101 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) , an almost emergency at USA, but he still walked around as if he did not feel anything. The patients with borderline high blood pressure were even more common. I think such high prevalence of hypertension might have something to do with their diet: high salt and not enough fibers. And in children, boys and girls, when they present with abdominal pain, the vast majority had parasitic infestation, with concomitant anemia/malnutrition. Because it was the last day, we distributed as much medicine as we could, especially vitamins and other nutritional supplements.

We all felt a big relief after we finished our clinic at 6:00PM. We congratulate each other on what we accomplished and thank others for helping us. To thank our volunteers and church support staff for their excellent work, we invited them to dinner at one of the best Chinese restaurants in Dakar, the Gold Coast.

In Gold coast, we had a great time. Food was quite authentic, and little different from the taste in NYC. This is because the owner and chef of this restaurant came from China. Our local volunteers got their own food suitable for their own taste.

Our flight to New York City was at 2:00 PM, so we hurried back to base after dinner. At 12:00 pm, packed up and got on the bus, no one seemed too excited. Many people, like myself, have a feeling of reluctance to part. However, the journey has an end after all, and we have many other things waiting for us on the other side of the world.

Goodbye, Senegal. We are gone, but this moment will always be a meaningful part of our lives and its memory will not fade over time and would last forever.

吃饱喝足，我们迅速开车回到基地，换好衣服。 这一天的门诊是在一个小村子里，离基地大约一个小时的路程。 天非常炎热，但奇怪的是我们没有出汗。 我想是又热又干的空气会立即吸走汗水，让我们感觉不到出汗。到了村庄，男女老少在帐篷和一棵大树下等着我们。那棵大树估计有三十尺高，突兀地矗立在村子中央。 后来我从我83岁的病人那里得知，这棵树在他出生时就那样高了。 我猜这棵树至少有 100 年的年龄了。据那位先生说，这棵树是这个村庄的象征。

门诊很忙。 患者的情况与其他地方的非常相似, 有很多高血压患者。得知许多高血压患者从未接受过治疗，有些人因经济困难停止服药，我感到难过和震惊。 一名患者的血压为 200/101 mmHg（毫米汞柱），在美国几乎是紧急情况，但他仍然走来走去，仿佛没有任何感觉。 临界高血压就更多了。 我认为如此高的高血压患病率可能与他们的饮食有关：盐含量高且纤维不足。而在儿童，无论男女，当他们出现腹痛时，极大部分都患有寄生虫感染，并伴随导致的贫血/营养不良。 因为是最后一天，我们尽可能多多地分发药物，特别是维生素和其他营养补充剂。

下午 6:00，结束门诊后，我们都如释重负。我们互相祝贺任务完成，并感谢其他人对我们的帮助。 为了感谢我们的志愿者和教会支持人员的出色工作，我们邀请他们到达喀尔最好的中餐厅，黄金海岸，共进晚餐。

在黄金海岸，我们过了个非常开心的晚上。食物很正宗，与在纽约的味道差别不大。这是因为这家餐馆老板和厨师来自中国。 我们当地的志愿者也享受了适合自己口味的食物。

我们飞往纽约市的航班是午夜 2:00 PM，所以我们吃完晚饭后赶紧回基地。晚上 12:00，收拾好行李上车，似乎没有人太兴奋。 很多人，比如我自己，有一种恋恋不舍的感觉。 然而，旅程毕竟是有结束的时候，我们在世界的那一头还有许多其他事在等着我们去做。

再见，塞内加尔。 我们离开了，但这一刻永远是我们生活中的有意义一部分，它的记忆不会随着时间的流逝而消失。