It was so much fun to wake up early this am and hear Abby and Alinda in the next room giggling.  You could tell the team was excited to head out on safari.  They left around 730 am with the best safari guide in all of Africa, Julius.  Now they get to go and see God’s beauty in Africa.  I hope they have a relaxing and fun time.

I spent the morning calculating all the finances, lining up our transportation and work at Bugando Hospital in Mwanza.

There is a young boy that has a cervical fracture and God bless Dr. Steve Eckrich he wanted to see if we could get a hallo for this child to try to save his life.  I was on the phone most of the day trying to get a hallo here in Africa.  I have not had any luck.  If they had them they did not have the pediatric size that we needed.  I am waiting to hear if they have in Muhumbili.  Please pray for this child.

As I sit and reflect on our days here, it is difficult to put into words the sad cases we saw in the outreach clinics and in the hospital.  I transferred 34 patients from our Maasai outreach clinics to Selian Hospital in Arusha.  We saw the ortho patients in our clinic, many were seen in the General Surgeon’s clinic and many the next day in the pediatric clinic.  I have had many outreach clinics but I have never seen so many sad cases.  It is unbelievable to see the pain they have had to endure for so many years because they have no money and no access to health care.  Many of the patients were taken to surgery to do an incision and biopsy and we are praying they are all benign.  They will not get the report for three weeks and then these people will come back to the Selian clinic for a follow up and treatment.  I am so concerned about these people that I am having conversations about the idea of building a dispensary where they can get medical sooner.

A case that touched me was a 41 year old women that came to the outreach clinic with a fractured right humerus that happened in an accident 16 hears ago.  She had been to a hospital where she had surgery and they put plate and screws in the broken bone.  When she came to us her arm was dangling and you could feel that the bone was not together and the plate they put in was broken.  Her arm was deformed and she could not use it.  It was so sad.  We gave her money to get a bus to come to Arusha to our clinic.  Steve examined her and was determined we needed to admit her and do surgery on Tuesday.  They took out the old plate and screws and it was difficult as the bone had grown around it.  Then because there was a space between the bone, they took a graft of bone from the hip and then put in a new plate and screws.  This lady will now be able to use her arm again and be without pain.  She will be encouraged to do some therapy to build up the muscles in her arm.  The sad thing was that it was her dominant arm that she and was not able to use.  Thank God for bringing her to our clinic and that we were able to help her.

I need your prayers as I go to the hospital to tomorrow to see what the Hope Ministries bill is.  Luckily they are going to let me wire money to pay when I get home, because the number of patients we helped is beyond anything I could imagine.  But with God’s strength and guidance, HE has led us with his guiding light and I have prayed to the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance on how I can help this many people.

Everyone here calls me Mama G, which came from Julius.  Steve happen to notice that there was a beauty salon named after me! So I had to stop and get my picture taken on my way home from the hospital.

Thanks for your expressed love and prayers.  I have been blessed with an awesome team that came with a heart to serve.

Mama Gayle