Praise God….what a great Hope team is doing work in TZ. Sorry I am unable to post photos while we are in Moshi, but the Internet will not allow me. Yesterday the 3 doctors, Mark Wheeler, Bill Rizk, and Craig Block did surgery on patients all day. Many patients were helped by these doctors, that otherwise would not have been helped. Also thanks to all the people who donated to Hope Ministries, because the surgeries and health care we are providing is free to patients, who do not have the funds. There was a man on the ward, that had been there for 10 days waiting for us, because he could not afford the cast material to fix his broken leg. Had we not come, they would have sent him home.
We also did surgery on a young boy from Mama Lynn’s orphanage. He is 16 years old and a very sweet young man. He had undescended testicles and would not have gotten this surgery done if our doctors had not been here. I felt so sorry for him because he has no parents, so I had to sign the consents as his mom. I felt so sorry for him so I stayed with him while he was put to sleep and then in recovery. I will go and visit him today. The 3 doctors were awesome and did all kinds of teaching to the students and other doctors. Praise God for the great people God sends to Hope Ministries. Here are some notes by the team:
Today, Haley Stevens, Michelle, and myself (Halie Larsen) were able to shadow the three surgeons that came with our team–we were even given the opportunity to scrub in (how cool)! The first surgery was an undescended testicle, which was really neat to see how that procedure works; all three of us just shadowed this surgery and it was a really great learning experience! The second surgery was a (rather large) hernia removal that I (Halie) was able to scrub in on. This was an experience of a lifetime as we generally wouldn’t be allowed to do anything of the sort in the United States until medical school. The third surgery was a fractured arm where both the radius and ulna were fractured. Haley Stevens scrubbed in on this surgery and it was beyond intriguing. All three of the surgeons were awesome teachers and explained the process which was more than I ever could have imagined; I learned so much from these three short operations and can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store for us!
Halie Larsen
Jambo from the other half of the group! It happened to be the four of us that spent two weeks here at Tudor Village so we were very excited to get just one more day with the kids. We played our usual games outside on the playground until lunchtime. After lunch we went back and played more games and had a dance party with the older girls. The time came when we had to say our final goodbyes and hopeful see you laters. I think I can speak for us four that these kids have truly made a positive impact on our lives. I had said on one of the first days here that “these kids will break your heart just to fill them again” and it proves to be so true. Until next time Tudor Village! We thank them for all their smiles and giggles!
Taylor Kavaya
