"Flora and Fauna" of Nixon

It is really hot now in Segbwema as now is the dry season. Temperatures are now touching the high 30s (Centigrade – sorry I don’t do Fahrenheit). Earlier in January at the onset of the harmattan season, the mornings were so cold most of the students were walking around with winter jackets on. The nights are sometimes unbearable as we are unable to keep the electric fans going after ‘lights out’. Anyway, we could be in Saskatoon – literally snowed under.

The hot weather obviously brings with it some blessings – the grass on the hospital site needs less cutting so we are able to deploy the grounds men to do other duties such as harvesting the palm fruits on site. Last year we were able to produce nearly a drum of palm oil from the harvest and we look forward to a much bigger yield this year.

Palm fruits

The arrival of many birds is a wonder to behold at this time of the year. The most interesting, in my opinion, is a flock of cattle egrets resident here at Nixon. They visit us twice (sometimes three times) a day - every day. I have tried to take pictures but my photography skills are not that brilliant. The chickens were better subjects– they are not camera shy – but they do make a sensible dash for cover when the odd hawk visits.

Cattle egret

This time of year is not the best for most of our students as they are busy with examinations!!! The recent intake have just finished sitting their Introductory exams whilst the second year students are now sitting their mid course assessment examinations. The experience is especially stressful now that students are expected to achieve a minimum standard before they are allowed to progress to the next level. They have been working hard and we wish them all the best.

The Walkway from Male & Female wards to back of OPD.

Picture 1


The Old Medical Superintendent's House



We recently had a visit from a lady who lived at Nixon during the late 1960s.
Linda had a lot of stories for us to enjoy and enlightened us on the way ‘missionaries’ lived in the 60s and 70s. The stories made us realise that some of the challenges we currently face are not unique – which was a relief. We were able to draw from her huge experience as we grapple with living and working in Segbwema. Linda’s experiences were of great help to us and we appreciate her visit to Nixon.



Little J - really enjoying her meal


.......Little J with our home helpers (L-R) Ansu, Mama Sumbo & Lucy. They make our home running smoothly and we are really grateful for their help and support.

Picture of Segbwema market from Old PZ building

Another view of Segbwema from St. Peter's Catholic Church

Marching On into 2009

Its been a while since we last updated our blog and we apologise to those of you who depend on the blog to follow our progress. The technology here in Segbwema does call for patience as internet connectivity has been a major problem for us. We are blessed now to have wireless internet,- but the connectivity leaves much to be desired. It is still better than having to travel to the nearest town – Kenema – one less stressful journey.


The past few days have been very exciting and challenging. The hospital is planning to increase the villages covered by the mobile clinic and this requires assessment visits to these villages where the elders and members of the Village Dev. Committees are consulted. Michael has visited a few villages recently hoping to start the new visits before the end of the month.




Gathering of some of the village people at a couple of vllages we visited (Apologies for the bad quality)





The students at the school have been very busy too. The final year students were placed in the nearby villages for 3 weeks as part of their public health practical training sessions. Their task involved building toilets, clearing the surroundings, building plate racks. A very serious problem in this part of the world is Lassa Fever – similar to Ebola virus or haemorrhagic dengue.



(Public Health Students on placement at one of the nearby villages - Fejia)

It is spread by contamination of food by rats. The students’ work involves educating the community on the risk of disease and the benefits of good practices to prevent the spread of such diseases.



An additional objective of this 'placement' is to expose the students to ‘village living’ with the hope that a few may choose to work in the villages rather than 'flocking' to the big cities and towns such as Freetown, Bo and Kenema. We are yet to see the results.



The family are all well when we left them and we hope they continue to remain well. We thank everyone who prayed for us as we made our journeys across the globe to attend to urgent family business. Continue to pray that our time here – another few months- will be fruitful. We will endeavour to keep the blog updated regularly.