To begin this second post let me just express one simple sentence of
reassurance, both for myself and for those who know me pretty well. And with this I’ll say that it comes after
many prayers and now some experience. So
here goes… I am not meant for any
career in the medical field. After
four days of medical mission work I have a deep, intense conviction that the
Lord did not give me any sort of medical ability or especially any desire to be
involved in anything remotely related to a medical career. (Outside of thinking that wearing scrubs to
work every day would be ideal.) Now this
is not to say that I did not enjoy my work last week with the team from
Arkansas, however it does mean that all things that itch, burn, hurt, swell, flake,
bruise, smell, etc. seriously gross me out.
My job during the week was to translate for the one doctor, Evelyn, who
came with the Geyer Springs team. First
of all, she was incredibly sweet and gentle and obviously loves her job. Getting to work with her was calming for my
nerves and just comfortable from the very beginning. As patients came in I would have them sit
down and then ask what was hurting and where and translate to Evelyn what they
had said. Back and forth this process
went, on… and on… and on… and on…
As I previously wrote about in the last post, the first day of this,
Monday the 18th, we drove a little over an hour to a small town
named Jocus. The morning was filled with
patient after patient, with two doctors – Evelyn and a local doctor, Dr. Aldo –
and then the afternoon was quite a bit slower.
Most of the time was spent just conversing amongst ourselves. This was definitely the most challenging day location
wise. The building was tiny and the
minute you stepped outside into the “waiting area” your body and especially
face was swarmed by the most annoying, tiny little bugs known to man, possibly
a cross between a gnat and a mosquito, and whatever else bites like the
dickens. On top of that the “facilities”
were just about the worst I have experienced in my 22 years, most definitely
made me appreciate my home and indoor plumbing.
And of course I was not warned before walking into that little surprise
of stench and flies. My new friends
thought it was pretty humorous when I immediately opened back up the little tin
door gasping and nearly gagging. But
even through the new experiences it was a good day; I learned some new
vocabulary and made relationships with the team. The highlight of the day was a seventeen year
old girl who came for issue with her vision and headaches. Evelyn was able to give her eye drops and
Ibuprofen but we did not have any sunglasses for her to wear. I had randomly thought to pack mine to take
just in case I was outside for the clinic so I gave her my own. She put them on and smiled, I told her how
cute/fancy she looked and she seemed pretty pleased. Made me think of the little things we take
for granted, those were just $5 Wal-Mart glasses that I just picked up a couple
days before I left to come here and thought nothing about it. However, since then I have definitely been in
her shoes and am anxiously waiting the day that Claire and I get to go shopping
with the Heath’s so I can purchase a new pair and save my poor eyes from
squinting every moment I step outside on a sunny day.
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| Inside the clinic, Day 1 - Patients just beginning to walk in. |
Day two was busier and cleaner.
We drove another hour to a town named Matara and held our clinic at
Jardin Ninos, a very small school or maybe even just a daycare. For this clinic we had two doctors and a
dentist. Each doctor had their own small
room to see patients, as well as a room for the pharmacy and another for the
intake personnel. The school had a fence
and gate which made organization and maintenance of the patients and the VBS
portion much easier. This day was quite
different from the first work wise. The
doctors and I, and the pharmacy, started seeing patients at 8:15 and worked
until around 1, had a 15 minute lunch break and were back at it from 1:15 to a
little after 5. We were all exhausted.
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| VBS |
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| Translating for Evelyn |
For day three we drove through Cajamarca and quite a ways up a hill to a
place called Lucmacucho. Three doctors
worked this day, all together in a dark, bare building that is used as a
church. The pharmacy and intake were
located in a separate building next door.
This was another busy day but the swarms of people came and went instead
of being one right after the other. I
only translated half the day this time and then switched jobs with the other
translator and quickly became the manager for the intake and pharmacy and dealt
with keeping patients in line and in order.
The highlight of this clinic came soon after lunch when an 80 year old
woman walked into the intake building with no shoes on. Her feet were cracked and filthy, who knows
how long she had gone without shoes. But
her spirit was so happy, she was sweet and funny, so loving and kind. One of the girls from the team, Jamie, did an
amazing thing for this woman. As she was
visiting with the doctor, Jamie asked Larry if she could give away her own
sandals. Of course with his kind heart
he said yes. They prepared a plastic
container with water to wash her feet in and Jamie took her t-shirt from under
the sweatshirt she was wearing to use as a towel. When the woman came back in for her
medications Larry explained to her what Jamie wanted to do and the process
began. Her feet were washed, dried and
lotion applied, the sandals were cut into a smaller size and then put on her
feet. She kept asking if this was all a
joke and Larry finally sat down in front of her and explained that there are
just some people in the world that we come across who have big hearts and are
full of compassion. He explained that
Jamie is a Christian and because of her own love and the love from Christ she
wanted to show compassion with the gift of her shoes. It was such a neat thing to watch. And also pretty humorous when the woman stood
up and was obviously not used to having shoes on her feet, her first few steps
she described as “walking like a duck” – which was pretty spot on. To top it all off, as we watch her leave the
clinic she walks over to a large pile of wood that is tied together, picks it
up and puts it on her back. She had
carried it to the clinic and was preparing to carry it back home. She strapped it on and started on her journey,
down a hill, who knows how far. Jamie
watched her walk for a long time until she was no longer visible. What a thing to witness!
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| The view of Cajamarca from the pharmacy |
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| Doctors were on the left, pharmacy on the right. |
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| VBS |
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| Washing her feet. |
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| Off she goes with her wood. |
Day four was by far the nicest location of the week but also the
craziest day. This time we were in
Cajamarca at someone’s home that is used as a church, Iglesia Esperanza de
Vida. We began closer to 9 a.m., with 3
doctors, and it was off to the races from the very beginning. By lunch time (which was supposed to be at
noon but wasn’t until 1) we had seen over 150 patients. We drove back to the compound for lunch
instead of having packed lunches like the other days and then headed back and
began again around 2:30. We were
supposed to end the clinic at 5 but we worked until 6:30 or after. At times the line for the pharmacy had at
least 30 people waiting if not more so Evelyn would take breaks from seeing
patients and run into the pharmacy to help with prescriptions and I would help
fill bags to put the medications and New Testaments in. The team out front doing intake finally had
to stop taking patients and send people away, which was quite the feat because announcement
after announcement hardly anyone would leave the waiting area. I’m really not sure how many people we had to
turn away.
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| Translating some more |
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| Just a portion of the people waiting to get in to see a doctor. |
After four days of clinics I heard that the total number of patients
seen was somewhere around 1,050. Evelyn
worked all four days and 3 other doctors switched days. What a week it was! Thursday night a dinner
was fun, halfway through the meal a mariachi band showed up and played music
for us. Claire and I attempted to get the
team to dance but were unsuccessful until I started a conga line. It was quite the party after that. Then we left to go to the Heath’s to have our
first night of our new bible study. We
chatted and watched a few videos, the real material started Friday
morning. We have things to read each day
and reflect on and then we meet Thursday nights to discuss what we
learned/thought. I helped Sean again
Friday morning with his soccer ministry at the school and then Claire and I
went to their house again from 3-5 to help with their weekly event for the
neighborhood kids. 14 people from the
Geyer Springs teams left to head back to Arkansas. Friday night, was eventful. Claire, Jamie and I went back to their house
after dinner to chat and just hangout.
We ended up leaving somewhat late and came back to the compound to find
that the evening guard was nowhere to be found.
So back to the Heath’s it was for a slumber party! Jamie and I each had
a couch and Claire took an air mattress.
It was fun and made for great memories.
We were back at the compound this morning just in time for breakfast – which
by the way, the food here is absolutely amazing, be jealous.
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| They love to crawl all over me. |
Saturday was relaxed. A
few more people arrived in the morning from their church for the second week of
their trip. During the afternoon we
delivered some food to poor families and besides that we hung around the
compound. Sunday was church at 9 a.m. and
then Monte Sion at 11 a.m. Lunch at 1
and then back to Monte Sion to play with kids and hand out ice cream and hot dogs.
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| Playing volleyball with the Peruvians, they beat us like 5 games in a row. |
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| Serving hot dogs. How cute is he! |
That’s all I’ve got for now, another jam-packed week ahead - going to some special needs schools Monday and Tuesday and doing a women's bible study Wednesday and Thursday. This team leaves Friday morning. I’ll be writing again soon.
With lots of love…chao.
