Thursday, July 14, 2005

We are into our second day of clinics at Singwamba. The closest outpost with a nurse is 50 kilometers away. Last night a group of women came and asked the team if they might help provide a permanent clinic here. They have hand crafted over 200,000 bricks and crushed stones into gravel in
their own attempt to build the clinic, but they will need cement and roofing materials before they can construct a building. It is nice to see a group take the initiative to improve their situation. This area is in a different medical-district than our own mission-site, and the politics of helping may prove difficult.

This morning I walked up on the side of a hill about 500 yards away as the clinic started and as I was walking back a man walking with a bicycle came up next to me. He was carrying an AK-47 automatic rifle, and I recognized him as one of the game scouts. He helped patrol our area last night.


I watch the people as they walk up the main dirt path to the school we are using as our base, and they will walk slowly until they reach a few hundred yards away. As they see the crowds in line and hear the commotion of a couple of thousand people they tend to get excited and quicken their pace. While I hate the comparison, we are as much like a carnival as these people will ever see. Last night, as we posted our security guards around our pharmacy, I could see 20 or 30 campfires on the hillside settling in for the night. They sang and talked until 4:30 this morning. It seems odd to us that they don't sleep, but if you think about it many of them have traveled by foot for several days, and they may see friends and relatives that they rarely see otherwise, so perhaps that explains the all-night visiting.


There are a few on the team with respiratory problems. The smoke and dust never goes away, and it is hot in the sun and cold in the shade, so a few sore throats are inevitable. A few have had upset stomachs, but all in all we are a healthy bunch. It would be nice to have a shower, but it won't happen for another 48 hours, so we take comfort in the fact that we are all in the same predicament.


Here are some of the things I see today:

Lindsay Grabowski, taking video outside the dental clinic.

Ray Ferguson, standing with his hand in the air waving at another worker across the way.


Star Ferguson, bent over a red trunk outside a big yellow bus, trying to find the pills that someone else couldn't find.

Dr. Jeff McKinzie explaining to Trey Lovett something about a procedure he is doing with a wound-patient.

Lane Miller, lifting a heavy drum and carrying it into the cooking area.


Brooke Whitlock standing in the middle of a major path intersection directing patients to the right place.


Naderra Sperry pouring something into a cooking pot.


Wayne Biggs slicing vegetables.


We will pack up our clinic tonight, stay here and move early in the morning to another site for a one-day clinic.


I hear the ringing of the "bell." It is actually a piece of railroad track and a pipe but it works as a bell, and it is rang every time there is about to be a baptism. This allows those who are busy at work somewhere else in the clinic to take a break and participate if they wish.


We appreciate your interest.