Monday July 11

Welcome to Monday. We have been awake since about 5am (10pm Saturday in the central U.S.). We moved our clinic to a place called Kapaule. (Pronounced ka-pole) and it means "The Pole." It is on a major dirt road and very near a large fire-watch-tower which is called "The pole.


One thing about being in a less remote village is that many more people, particularly school-aged children know english. Also it means very large crowds. We expect to see over 3000 today alone. You may have seen an AP story after the Iraq elections about how voters had to dip their finger into a purple dye to ensure that they only voted once. We use the same dye, though strictly speaking, it is not dye, but anti-fungal medicine called Gentian Purple. We buy it in large jugs and as Zambians come through the medical line we dip their index finger into the dye, and when they come for eye-clinic we dip the little finger. You can -wash part of the purple off, but if it gets into the cutical of your finger nail, it will be there a few days. Today, more than at other places we are seeing those who made it through the queue once and are attempting to come through again.



As I write this, I am sitting in the back of a 3/4 ton GMC pickup that was sent over from the U.S., and am watching a large flock of Guinea Fowls follow a domesticated chicken around like chicks. They walk among the 500 people in the court-yard of the school we are using as if they weren’t there. Also a huge bumble bee, apparently attracted to my Green John Deere cap is buzzing around my head.



We rolled into this place about 8:15 this morning, and by 9:15 we were fully operational. Some of the landscaping at the school may never be the same, because to make it happen we just have to roll our big trucks and trailers down through the middle. We talk to the school headmaster, or headmistress in advance, but it still causes me a bit of guilt to run over the carefully laid-out bricks that the students have placed there to form walkways. In any case, it amazes me that we can roll into a place and get set up in an hour. The pharmacy operates by placing a big red foot-locker in every seat. The patient passes the prescription through the back door, and the medicine arrives at the front door. We have two of the big yellow US school busses, and both pull 400 gallon water trailers behind them. We, of course, have to unhook the trailer before we convert into pharmacy-mode.



After the first two days of clinics we had seen over 5000 patients. Our second day moved at a much more rapid pace than the first. The medical emergency of Friday impacted us, but we are now moving at full-speed. On that note, Johnny Robinson who was evacuated to South Africa after a seizure has stabilized. I am hesitant to give many details about the situation because we are not having regular communication with Johnny and Cindy, but at our last report it was believed that Johnny has a brain-tumor and he will travel home with the team in a few days to have surgery in the United States. The ability to have our doctors on the flight with him was central to their decision to go to the U.S. for treatment. Our doctors tell us that trauma patients are rated on a scale of three to fifteen, and that when Johnny was found at our camp he was a “three” and gravely ill. If you want more updated information on Johnny contact the Hillcrest Church of Christ in Abilene.


We thank you for your interest in our mission. Many on the team have been disappointed that they can not easily call their loved-ones in the United States or Canada, so if you are one of those loved-ones, please know they want to call, they just can’t;-)


Tomorrow is a “moving” day, so it may be Wednesday before another update unless I can find a few minutes later this afternoon.