AUGUST 3, 2011
I write you this at 10pm on Wed night after a VERY LONG day. This email will also double as the blog entry for today. I'm too tired to find a new way to express myself. Today was a crazy day. Lots of high high ups and some really low lows.
The morning started off well. I woke up well rested and excited for the Clinic Day in Obunga. But about 15 minutes before we were to leave, I suddenly felt QUITE ill. I was nauseous and my stomach was hurting. Not the day for stomach problems! 1) I was the crucial aspect of the day planned. You can’t have a medical camp without a doctor! 2) Obunga has no running water, which means no bathrooms. (In all my days out there, I've never been pressed enough to have to use the bathrooms. I didn't want to do that today either.)
We are all packing into our tuk tuks and I"m trying not to loose my breakfast. So I asked everyone to pray for me - and I immediately felt better. Not wonderful, but not quite as close to yuck. So, with that we headed to Obunga - and I hoped for the best. I am happy to report that my stomach calmed and gave me no problems for the rest of the day. And added bonus - I had absolutely no appetite today - which meant that when the lines got long and the hour late, I was still ready to keep going.
We got to Obunga about 10 and tried to set up. Finally, stations were set up and medicines were set out in the "pharmacy." One of Ndoto’s students, Matthews, is in pharmacy school. So, we let him man the pharmacy. Two of our future nurse’s helped with intake and registration. And we waited for our first patient.
Things moved slowly at first – and I was getting worried. We bought medicine for 50-100 people. What if we only had 5 or 10 show up? But the slow trickle quickly became a downpour. I had a wonderful translator Lillian. But nothing was simple. Every patient wanted to check everything out and make the most of this doctor’s visit; the diseases were completely foreign to me (pun intended); and the language barrier was harder than I thought. Slowly but surely, we got a system going. Before I knew it, we’d seen 18 patients and it was past 1pm. The rest of the team was hungry, so we broke for lunch. We had a quick meal and returned to Obunga. Even more had shown up for the afternoon!
We worked as quickly as possible. “Dr Lillian” was great. After 20-30 patients, she knew the questions I was going to ask and just started asking them herself. She’d write everything down for me and then I’d come and examine the child. I’d ask 1-2 questions I needed to know or clarify some things. It made things MUCH faster. About 4pm, they came to get me. There was an 8 year old girl, Molly. She was crying and hot with fever. The local community health worker and Matthews felt that she had bad malaria and should be taken to the hospital. So, we packed her up in one of our tuk tuks and John took her to the hospital. When he left a few hours later, she’d been seen, admitted, given medication, and was resting more peacefully.
The sun began to set and still we had patients. I worked as fast as I could. Wow. Los Barrios will be nothing after this. J The day finally finished with the last patient at 7pm. It was DARK in Obunga with one small light in the room I was working in. But we sent her to the pharmacy and began to count the papers. 54 patients seen! Probably about 50 kids and 4 adults. Lots of stomach infections, lots of skin rashes, lots of breathing problems, aches and pains in the adults, several eye problems. But we were happy to say that no one had been turned away.
Allison had sent the team ahead and she waited for me alone. The walk through Obunga is a muddy one where you have to watch every step. A bit difficult at night. And it’s not the safest place. So Allison and I were escorted by 5 of Obunga’s finest men and women. My otoscope (light for the ears) served double duty to help us avoid the sewer ditches and the muddy holes. We slowly made our way out of Obunga … and back to the road.
TIRED. That’s what I was. But ready to eat some food. My stomach had remained calm the entire day – and I was greatful for that. I felt great. I pray that the medicines will be used well. I pray that God gave me a supernatural ability to treat problems that are not so common place for me. I hope that all felt cared for and listened to. Tired but super satisfied. The day had not been thwarted. The goal had been met. Praise God!
So, now to the low point of the day. I didn’t know much of this until later – working hard in my little room. But I knew that Allison had come …and the quickly left again. I knew that there was whispering and that something was obviously amiss. But I didn’t have time to investigate or understand what had happened.
Allison ran some errands in the morning in town and then came to Obunga mid-morning. As she reached into her purse to find something for one of the Ndoto students, she realized her wallet was missing. So, they went back to town and to all the stops they had made but were unable to find it. It had been stolen. She had just been to the bank – so she had about $800-900 in cash in her wallet – about $100 of her own personal money and the rest was Ndoto money. (Everything here is done in cash – no credit cards anywhere – so we make frequent visits to the ATM machines to have sufficient funds to pay for all of our activities and meals, etc. )
This then led to a stressful day of lost money, stolen bank cards, calling the US to stop and reorder bank cards. It was also very upsetting to the older boys of Ndoto. They couldn’t fathom why someone would steal from poor kids just trying to go to school. Allison said they were quite distraught. Several of them are in finals for college right now – so that was not the thing to happen right before a big test.
But it has been a huge object lesson for us all. That it is all God’s money and that He will provide. He will provide for all of our needs. He has the power to provide for what was lost. Or we don’t need it after all.
Please pray for us tonight. Pray that hearts would be calmed over what happened. Pray that we would find peace to know that God will provide. Pray that Ndoto’s expenses will be covered – and that the work to reach His people in Obunga will go on. Pray also for the kids and the families that were seen today. Pray that the medicine would heal their bodies. Pray that they might grow strong and sure. Pray for God to continue to change Obunga from the inside out. He is doing great things there…and that is when the Enemy always seeks to attack. To discourage, to distract, to prevent good from happening. Pray that we might stand strong against that attack…and that we might persevere always.
No comments:
Post a Comment