John and Dr. Will packing the truck

8/19 (picture) Packed up our medical supplies and headed to Nakayot to see sick people. Nakayot is a village of about 1,000 families that was created as a peace village. Those living there agree not to have cattle to reduce fighting. They are encouraged to plant crops and a borehole is put in for them. This was a really challenging day. There has been no medical care here and people's intense desire for help translated itself into very strong emotions and demanding in addition to physical violence and hurtful behaviors. We tried to see as many people as possible but there just weren't enough hours in the day. We were not going to spend the night there due to security reasons so before dark we had to pack up and get back on the road. Really though the team pulled together really well. Heidi (the vet student) and John (the driver) served as our pharmacists filling the scripts that the doctors wrote. We sorted out people with wounds and ear complaints. I cleaned dressed wounds and Janelle spent hours looking in ears and giving antibiotics. The pastors worked as translators and prayed with many patients while the VHT's taught the things they learned from us about prevention and sanitation. The VHT's also counted and packed pills, washed wounds and generally provided crowd control. The day was challenging and a bit of a struggle with things like leaving with so many not seen and the shoving and demands for medications but some things went really well. On the way back we went out to the hospital to visit Mariko. He is still not speaking but we get the report that his leg is doing much better. The roads were really rough and ee were all pretty tired by the time we got back to Iriri that night. A few of the CLIDE staff had not spent the day with us but instead when on ahead to Nabwal to set up camp for us there. A pit latrine needed to be dug, land cleared for our tents and an area to see patients arranged.

Crazy road and the people watching us attempt it.

8/20 Packed up camp and headed out to Nabwal. It is about an hour drive (only 12 miles but very challenging none the less). Val had left some of the staff there and had come back to pick us up so we could go with two vehicles. The road had dried quite a bit but was still crazy. (pictures) We arrived mid-morning and began to see patients right away. Again everyone pitched in. There were many more patients (Nabwal is a peace village of 11,000 families) but we had a lot more help too as the CLIDE staff was almost all there. I had two patients with leprosy, got really good at removing chiggers from feet (a flee that lives and lays eggs under the skin), a teenager who had a broken ankle for several weeks and pneumonia in far too many babies. There were many patients we had not seen when it started to get dark but we assured them that we would see more tomorrow and they left peacefully.

Small side note- Dr. Val has put these horns on the front of her

car to identify her so that she doesn't get shot at.

People waiting to be seen

Dr. Bob seeing patients

As the sun set I mixed some crystal light into my water bottle and dug out of the bottom of my backpack a tiny container of pringles that Claudia gave me (THANKS CLAUDIA!!) and sat just a little ways away from camp. (Still within the line of sight of our armed guards though). It felt surreal. I wrote in my journal “end of the day, exhausted again, but a weird sense of peace. Feels a bit like we were going through the motions, antibiotics and meds for so many but this is still like putting a bandaid on a festering wound. I'm trying to teach the VHTs as I go but language is a problem as most of the translators are tied up with the doctors or teaching the people. We gave them a little knowledge but it is just the tip of the iceberg for what they really need to know to help their communities. I really hope they feel valued. At least the people we much less demanding today. And double the support staff and Val doing a lot of the coordination with the local leaders is making a huge difference. ”

Dancing in the evening

After dark the local pastors began singing and so many from the community joined. I'm sure some of it was because we were the best entertainment in miles around but some really joined in the singing and many joined in the dancing. It was an amazing time. I know God was honored by what took place. Ann shared her heart with those around who were listening and several wanted to give their lives to Christ. One told us she was a local witchdoctor but wanted to be done with that. She was encouraged to return in the morning.

The remains of the witch doctor's artifacts

6/21 Woke up to a group forming already waiting to be seen by the doctors. But other business first. The woman who said she wanted to renounce what she had been doing arrived with all of her ritual materials. She was one of our VHT's!! Publicly she shared the change in her heart and her pots were broken and things destroyed and then lit on fire. (picture) We sang songs of worship while we prayed with her and for her. Two small kids were pulled out of the “audience” who had been anointed in ritual last night and I went over to the side with them to wash off the stuff that had been smeared on them. I'm pretty sure that they had no idea what was going on so I ask that you continue to pray for them (both were less than 8 years old).

Dr. Val's truck had half of the team, some supplies, these
extra people and the little boy with the femur fracture.

We began to see patients and quickly got into a routine. Over the course of the day it was estimated we saw 1200 people though we really didn't have a good way to keep track and lost count at 943 when we ran out of paper. A 5 year old with a femur fracture (happened that am) was brought to me. We took off a splint that was doing no good and tried to immobilize his pelvis and knee and control his pain a little. A woman with meningitis was also brought. I think I did blood draws for malaria tests on at least 40 people while dispensing IM meds. Around 4 pm half of the team packed up and Dr. Bob, Janelle and Susan with Dr. Val and a few CLIDE staff headed back to Iriri for the night (picture) so that they could go to the church in Nakyote in the morning. They also took with them the child with the femur fracture. (picture on yesterday's post) The rest of us stayed behind and saw a few more patients then as it got dark wrapped it up. We still had not seen everyone but once again reassured that we would have more time on Sunday afternoon.

We really wanted to show the Jesus film again but had a lot of problems with the generator and projector and DVD and computer. We showed possibly 2/3 of it with many stops and then it started to rain and the people left quickly so we had to quick pack up the whole set up. Satan merely prolonged his defeat on that front.

Pt missing all of his toes and most of his fingers to leprosy

VHTs dressing wounds

Dr. Bob seeing patients with our camp site in the background.