February 29, 2008

Since it’s been a month since we last posted something – how has it been that long – we are just going to offer random thoughts and updates.

We had the Medical/Dental team here the last week of February. It had about 50 people along with Cindy and I, most of the rest of the team here helping in one way or another, and the help of 13 translators. All which had to be transported back and forth to the site each day.

Couple that with the fact the school we were using was at the top of a VERY big hill (or a small moutain) which could only be reach using a windy dirt/gravel, one-lane road that was right beside a drop off to the bottom of the large hill all the way up. Most of the team made this journey in an old, yellow school bus. This made for an interesting adventure twice each day – once going up in the morning and another coming down at night.

The last day was especially interesting since it rained all night the night before our last day. This made the road muddy and a little slick. It then drizzled most of the day we were at the clinic which made the road worse. When we were packing up to leave on the last night the some of the people who lived in village said we should not use the road we had been using to go down the hill. Because of the rain it was too slick and we could go over the side of the hill. This made us a little nervous because the bus driver, Steve Comfort, and Brad had checked out the other road down the hill earlier that day and thought it was worse than the one we had been using.

The people of the village insisted we use the “other” road. We discussed it and concluded they live here, we don’t, they probably know best. We took their advice and used the road they suggested. Obviously we made it safely or we wouldn’t be typing this.

The medical/dental clinic lasted four days (Mon-Thurs). We saw over 2,300 people in those four days. The village we worked in didn’t have running water. Each person went to a church service (either adult or kids), triage, worming, had a family photo taken, then had the opportunity to see a doctor, dentist, be tested for hearing and fitted with a hearing aid if needed, have their eyes tested and fitted with prescription glasses, and finally visit the pharmacy were they were given any medications that had been prescribed along with a “family pack”. The family pack included such things as: soap, toothbrushes, washcloths, toothpaste, etc.

The days were extremely long. Rolling out of bed between 4 and 5 am., returning to Faith Home around 9:00 at night, and finally getting to bed between 11 pm and midnight. Yep, we were pretty tired come Friday.

One day during the clinic we gave a mom three large cans of baby formula. The mother had a small child she was holding and another one barely walking. We thought we would help and we offered to carry the formula to her house. How far could it be? The village we were working in wasn’t that big. We started walking, and we kept walking right out of the village. We had been walking down the hill for about 15 minutes when the lady points to the bottom of the hill and then some and says “me casa.” What? We had no choice but to walk the formula to her house. About 30 mins after we started we arrived at her house. Realizing of course that we had to walk back up the hill now.

So we started our trek up the hill. All along the way people were stopping to stare at us. Finally Cindy says “I know what their thinking. These gringos took a wrong turn in Texas.”

Being so busy we had many friends on this team but got to spend very little time with them. That was disappointing. The good side is 109 people said they are now new members of God’s family.