Medical Clinic Day

The day started out like so many other days here. Not in accordance with plan.

Both our Volunteer team and the founder of Rahab's had arrived just the day/night before the clinic, so everything was already a bit hectic. Not to mention that the day everyone had arrived was the festival of colors here, so everything the whole weekend had been shut down.

So, My friend and I had to run to the pharmacy before going out to the clinic site to pick up some medicines for the Doctor to prescribe. But instead of getting out the door 30 minutes before everyone else, atleast 3 people stopped us to ask questions. So, we missed the early bus. It was probably by only 3 minutes, but that meant an extra 30 minutes of waiting time. Oh well.

So we finally arrive to the pharmacy and ask for our list of 10 things. As I hand the list over, the woman behind the counter goes off on her hunt. She has to look high and low for the various products, sometimes climbing on a ladder to get to the hundreds of medicines they have. To me, it looks like a nightmare of cardboard boxes on a million and a half shelves, but somehow she manages to find all of the proper things.

So we pay and hop on the next bus to get out to the clinic. We arrive about 15 minutes late to see that noone has been treated yet, nor seen the doctor. "We were waiting on you," was the answer to why they hadn't started yet. I was the one with the medicines, so I said I could understand their logic.

So as we pull out the medicines, we set up some chairs for the waiting women, and the doctor unwraps the stethoscope and cuff sent all the way from back home. The line of women reached around the corner and several women asked if they could go get their children from school to come and see the doctor.

It was a funny morning of trying to keep kids occupied while their mothers saw the doctor as well as running around to grab anything the doctor would call for during the clinic.

As the clinic closed, I collected my cell phone which had doubled as a flashlight for looking in peoples' mouths and ears, swept the floor, and headed off for lunch.

One of the most interesting stories we had from that day happened when a woman who could barely walk showed up. Her English was amazingly understandable, but almost too obviously forced and painful to speak. Only 30 years old, she was in so much pain that the only thing she could really do was sit on the ground. Walking took so much effort. A couple of the volunteers helped her to her house after she had seen the doctor, praying for her along the way.

When our friends were asked where she had come from, they said that they had never seen her before. So I was pretty surprised the next day to find out that she was actually the auntie of one of our stitching class girls. So far, I've visited her house several times and continue to pray for her as she needs a great healing.

She went to another doctor on Friday to have some tests done, and I will go visit her tomorrow. May the Father heal her in His mighty ways.