Saturday, January 10th
Another busy day, as the team was able to travel to the Endimatu village and see a wide variety of patients experiencing a diverse range of issues. The team is proud to announce that we were able to see 115 patients on Friday and refer 45 of those to Selian hospital. Today the team was able to see an additional 107 patients and refer another 45 to Selian hospital. These patients were seen for free and are able to obtain medical care through Hope Ministries. Our deepest gratitude goes out to our donors who make this needed work possible.
Grace was extremely grateful to be back in Tanzania and able to do mission work with the team. She expressed she was saddened to see the amount of children who needed care. A particular story that deeply affected Grace was a woman who came in with a trach she has had for over 17 years. The woman was unable to get her trach cleaned or changed due to financial constraints. Additionally, this woman had a condition with an enlarged jawbone likely causing her severe discomfort. Grace expressed she was happy Gayle was able to give her money for transportation so that she is able to get the treatment she desperately needs.
Melissa felt more confident in addressing the needs of the Tanzanian people and felt more organized and confident. The day was filled with a wide variety of patients from babies to the elderly. We were able to see issues ranging from arthritis pain to nasal polyps. One moment that stuck out to Melissa was a 9 month old, who was brought in for nasal polyps and snoring. After examination the child had down syndrome and congested lungs with pneumonia which was unaware to the parents. Gayle was able to refer the child to a pediatrician to test for other complications associated with Down syndrome.
Kellen was grateful to have the opportunity to see more patients and serve a community who desperately need help. Similar to yesterday, the group prayer left a lasting impression of love which could be felt the entire day. He expressed that he was fascinated to see both completely new medical issues but also was able to pick up on patterns and repeating issues that affect these communities. Kellen was the luckiest member of the group today because he got all the cutest children as patients but also the most cases of enlarged testicles and is being now being encouraged by both the Hope Ministries team and locals to pursue a career in urology.
We are finished with our outreach clinics and had to say goodbye to Thabita who is the Manager of Soitt Gardens, where we have been staying. What a sweet lady and very good cook. We really enjoyed our stay here and hard to say goodbye to her. We are not heading to the airport to pick up Dr. Pruitt and head to Arusha to work at Selian Hospital for the week. Thanks for your support and prayer’s.
