Ait Lekak: Morocco

I (Steve) recently had the wonderful opportunity to go to Ait Lekak, Morocco with several students from Lock Haven University. The purpose of the trip was to provide international Service-Learning experiences to the students involved. We performed screening exams at three villiage schools in the High Atlas Mountains--in all close to 500 children and adults were seen. Additionally, we gathered height and weight data, random glucose, hemoglobin, and blood pressure on the children and adults.

We found that the children are underweight, undernourished with nutritional deficiencies. Notable findings in this population included low hemoglobin levels despite living around 12,000 feet elevation, and many with markedly palpable thyroids.

The adults at Ait Lekak had less pathophysiology than did those at the lower villiages. Those villiages were more remarkable for hypertension, we found several undiagnosed diabetes, and a multitude of adults with goiters. We educated the villiage leaders and parents about the importance of maintaining iodine in their diet as well as drawing attention to the importance of good nutrition in their children.

This was a remarkable experience for myself and the students. We lived with the villiagers, ate with them, danced, sang...they opened their lives to us and taught us a great deal about life and how simple it is to be happy and laugh despite the struggles of life. It is impossible to accurately share this experience...I could not have imagined it had I not had the experience! I have some photos and videos that will share some of the beauty of Ait Lekak and her people.

Link to videos Note the others to the right as this video plays.

Easter at the White House

This year we were able to spend Easter with uncle Jim in Washington DC. We enjoyed Easter dinner at Aunt Laurel's house with Jim and the missionaries.
The following day we were fortunate to get tickets to enter onto the White House lawn for the annual Easter-egg role. It was a good experience to do....once! Steve says that the best part of it all was sleeping out in a tent on the Elipse with Joey and Emalie, so we could be in line early enough to get tickets.

Evening of Music

Link to Musical Numbers.

We had a wonderful time preparing for and then performing a number of musical numbers at our Evening of Music. In addition to our fine looking ensemble, there were stellar performances by John and Alyssa as well as Dr. Grass on the Bassoon.

Left to right in the picture: Matt, Steve, Elder Carter, Elder Holdaway, Abe, and David.

After viewing the linked video clip, you will see that there are two others on the right side that were submitted as well.

YMCA Swimming

Joey was able to be on the YMCA swim team this winter. Other than the all-day meets, it was a fun experience for us all. Joey says that his favorite strokes are the freestyle, butterfly and back stroke. I think that he has more strokes than I do! Did they even have the butterfly back when I was a kid?!

Ice Storms

We had our first real experience with freezing rain. Wow! We woke up to a sheet of ice covering everything. I have never seen anything like it before. The kids thought it was great! Free ice skating, and hot cocoa when your done! Not to mention that school was canceled for the day.

Punxsatawney

We pulled a crazy and got up at 1:30 am to travel down to Punxsatawney PA to see a rodent. Of course it wasn't just any rodent, it happened to be Punxsatawney Phil --"seer of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators". We had SO much fun. We weren't alone either-30-40,ooo other people joined us. All that hoopla for a rodent? I'm sure all of you know that the forecast was for 6 more weeks of winter.