And now...Let the doctoring begin...

So...after He and I had been through all of that arguing, I finally let go of my agenda and signed on to His. I agreed to love on His precious children in Obunga. I enjoyed it. And I gave up my dreams to doing lots of doctoring and healing lots of people...

And then, after a week in Africa and after I had let go of my own agenda ... God gave it back to me. The second week had medicine in almost everyday. And every day just got better and better...

On Monday, we went back to Obunga to spend time with the kids. That morning, Allison asked me to bring my stethoscope and stuff to see a few of the kids there. We had our own mental list of some of the kids we had seen the week before that we wanted to take a closer look at. And so we did. Ashley helped me; we were a great team.

We started with Phanice, one of the high schoolers sponsored by Ndoto. She was having trouble getting to school because of a painful limp and an hour long commute on foot each way. So I took a look at her leg. It was MUCH smaller than the other leg - a sure sign of a neurological issue. It turns out that when she was a little girl, she got very sick with malaria and went to the hospital. They gave her a shot for her malaria (which must have hit her sciatic nerve in her leg) ... and that ever since then her leg began to hurt and tingle and grow weaker. As she was dealing with that hurdle, a little boy fell from a tree one day and landed on top of her - breaking that same weakened leg. It was a bad break - and after those two events, she has had a painful limp ever since. Well, I couldn't do much to help her leg work well again. But we could get her some ibuprofen to take for the painful walks to and from school. (And I happen to know a great physical therapist to consult back home!)

Next came Nicholas, a sweet little boy with a thick rash on his face, neck, and arms. It was like horrible eczema. I wasn't sure what to do...but I took pictures to bring home to show my friend, who is a dermatologist. And I thought that creams and lotions to calm and moisturize his skin would be a good place to start.

I saw Elizabeth Awino and Tobias - and listened to their wheezing lungs. Likely from the open fires they have in their homes and from sleeping on the dirt floors. Asthma inhalers and medicines would be a great place to start for both of them!

And then I got to see sweet Shadrack. He is a sweet little boy with a clouded eye. I spoke with him and he told me he had been struck with something in his eye a few years earlier. He had lost his vision in that eye. Not much I can do to restore his vision, but I thought a visit to an eye doctor would be wise to assure that he could see well out of the other eye.

I saw a few other children, and thought of medicines to bring back for everyone. I was excited. I may not be able to cure them completely of their problems, but I could help in small ways. Overall, a super successful day of medicine!