Well after an eventful yesterday the rest of team decided they couldn't face today so they overslept. I was preparing for the day and finally I went and knocked on the teams door and they were still asleep and there was a lot of OMG's going on in the room. I told them we were leaving in 15 minutes and they were rushing around like crazy women. They were afraid that they were going to miss breakfast and were not going to get lunch. They were so funny.
Luckily the safari vehicle arrived late so the team could finish their breakfast. We loaded up with all our medical supplies and headed to Mererani for our outreach clinic. First we stopped and picked up the doctor and nurse. We found out the baby that we had to do CPR on the day before was dismissed and the doctor said the baby was gone and doing well. Praise The Lord!
We divided and conquered tasks. Katie sat at the admission table with Paul and they got the patients names, age and presenting symptoms. Then I think we have trained Julius to become a doctor and we now call him Daktari Soloman. He ran an admission table and did some excellent assessments. The patients then came to the assessment tables and Jacklyn, Amanda and I did their vital signs, O2 Sats and did further assessment and documented them. Then we took them to the doctor. Doctor Richards is a unique individual that we all love and get a kick out of. We never met such a happy man and can laugh about anything and he laughs and laughs and laughs. What a joy to work with! After spending 2 days with him we have many stories and filled with laughs.
We saw 220 patients at this clinic. Thanks to all the donors to Hope Ministries because we paid for all the medicine and they were provided treatments for free today. This village were we had the clinic is in a very poor area. We saw many patients with colds, skin disorders, fungal infections, scabies, recurrent TB, syphilus, and several disorders. A big learning experience for the team.
Some of the cases were so sad. We saw a baby that was 15 months old and could not walk, talk, crawl, stand and did not have any head control. This baby has been like this since birth. We referred the child on to a pediatric neurologist. So sad to think that these people just deal with these situations and don't go to a doctor because they can't afford it.
This is a story of a family that touched us all. The mom and dad were in there late 50's. The mom came to us with her son who was 14 years old and he was severely handicapped. He was blind and had severe neurological problems and had severe contractures. She was telling us her story and it was hard to keep the tears away. She said that her husband was in an accident and someone had hit him in the head with a hoe and he sustained a lot of damage. He could not hear and at first could not see but his sight has returned. He is unable to work and Mom is unable to work because she needs to stay home and care for the handicapped child. She said the neighbors had been pitching in and helping them with food but they were no longer getting help. There are 2 other sons who are 15 and 17 and were living on the streets trying to get money and food. So sad! Then the mom said that the dad would get very hungry and would beat the mom and the kids. The stories of this family tore at my heart and I talked to Paul about getting the family some food and I wanted to do a home visit so we could asses their home situation.
At the end of the day we drove to their house. They lived in a two roomed house that had very little furniture. The handicapped boy was in a wheel chair and I complimented the mom on the love and care that she was giving the child. To have so little but so much love. The mom was holding a baby that was around 3 months old and she said that her oldest daughter was married and became pregnant and her husband threw her out of the house so she and her baby were also living in this house hold. I stopped and bought them food which was rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil, soap and other things that Paul said they could use. When we gave them the food, Julius said the mom kept saying God bless you and that God was going to bless us in everything that we did. Then the dad kept shaking my hand and saying Mungu Akubariki (May God bless you very much). It was a touching and sad moment. I plan to taught to Mama Lynn and we are going to see how we can help this family.
After our free "African Massage" ride home we made it safely. The roads are something else. Praise God we made it safely and what a great day. We were all very hungry and tired but we had so many stories to share from the day. What a blessing this team has been. Continue to pray for us as we head to work at a hospital tomorrow.
Sending a lot of love and hugs to you all.
Gayle
