Today began with an early breakfast and regrouping about the day's schedule of events. I like to remember this day as a day of physical healing and well-being. God was surely present this day to restore health. We held a clinic for the community which included providing de-worming medication and a month supply of vitamins. The clinics were held in three separate intervals in which we would serve health needs of about 140 families. The clinic location was placed beside the church under the same tent where the community worships. Prior to this day, the families were given a date and time to be present so our goal was to be ready for them. We wanted this clinic to run seamless for the families so we received great detailed instruction from our PA, Tracey. During this event, families were also going to learn how to use their new stoves and water filtration systems. Raul, our Interpreter, provided a thorough demonstration for each group. It was critical having him there as well as Tracey and we were blessed to have their help. Most of us knew only our English language but we did have a few team members who understood Spanish pretty well. Raul was also helpful during this process as he was fluent in English, Quiche and Spanish so we relied heavily on him in our communication efforts.
We began our day by setting up three stations and assigning group members to each one. There were quite a few items that had to be considered, gatorade as an aid for swallowing pills, jelly for the little ones to make pill taking easier, and activities that we could do for the children as the families learned about the stoves and filters. We set up an area for gatorade and cups, a table for pill maintenance, an area for giveaways and of course an area for a little added fun, silly bands! We had previously assigned the group to teams: doctors, nurses and helpers. The doctors were the central channel of communication. Their jobs were to determine the correct amount needed of the medication and quantity of vitamins. With the help of our guides, the doctors could determine what size pill was needed based on age. We color coded the instructions to make it easier to communicate between the guide and the doctor with the de-wormer pills. We used red, yellow and blue silly bands to draft a list at each station. If I can remember correctly, red was code for a whole pill, yellow was for 1/2 and blue was for a 3/4 size pill. Each person in the family was given a de-wormer pill but we had to specify the age of the children and determine if there were more family members at home that needed the medication as well. The guide would speak to the family and help communicate to the doctor by pointing to the color for the exact pill size needed. The nurses were there to help split pills, crush them, mix them with jelly and help with distribution of the medication. The helpers took care of counting out vitamins and provided gatorade. The clinic operated pretty slow at first but we eventually got the hang of it. It just took some time to get a comfort level between the doctor and the guides. Some of the little ones were a little fussy but that is where the silly bands came in! The children were so intrigued by all the colors and shapes. We also provided each family with a bag of toiletries, toothpaste and a few toothbrushes. It's amazing how many bags of toiletries we collected for this trip. All those little hotel shampoos and conditioners, soaps, and bodywash sure came in handy!
During the stove and water instruction, a few of us took the children out in front of the church to play. We had to keep the children occupied so that the families could have their overview. Yes, we even had the healing power of laugher with the children! Laughter is good medicine and they were getting a dose of healing just by allowing their sweet spirits to run free! We played red light green light, duck duck goose and got them engaged in hokey pokey, started a choo choo train and several other fun games. We had lots of playful photo opportunities that they absolutely loved. We saw some favorite familiar faces but after a while, I must have counted at least 100 or so. Children sometimes just make you want to start life over. ;)
I really enjoyed this day because we were able to work one on one with some of the people in the community. We eventually didn't even notice a communication barrier. Something extraordinary happens when two or more agree together in prayer. Almost every person we expected to arrive to the clinic did and we even served some of the community later than night that could not make it out earlier that afternoon.
That evening, Ron was was up to his silly tricks again. ;) This time, he brought out sparklers for the children. I thought this was such a creative idea. We sat outside and watched them for a little while and it was cute seeing London teach them to swirl them around. They were really mesmerized by the light, even starting singing Feliz Navidad! Right before time for bed, we had a team meeting, another devotion and discussed how the next day would unfold. This was one of the most special days of the entire week! Stay tuned!
Proverbs 17:22 puts it like this, "A happy heart is like a good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing."
Stay tuned for Day 6...
No comments:
Post a Comment