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JULY 2, 2009

Wow. What a day. I finally got to Kawai aroung 1 AM this morning. Right now, I have a whole building to myself because they didn´t want to wake anyone when I got in so late last night, but I´m planning on moving in with some other people tomorrow. As soon as I got here, I layed my sleeping bag down on one of the bunks (which, by the way, is too short for me-no surprise here!) and crashed. I met some people at breakfast this morning before we took a two-hour bus ride to a school in the area. We set up the medical clinic - and for being literally in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity-was pretty impressive. 236 people were seen/diagnosed by doctors, 60 some were helped by an eye doctor (who worked all day without lunch or breaks), dentists saw lots of patients and both pulled teeth and filled cavities., and we processed tons of perscriptions in the farmacia. :)

The first thing i did was help translate for a small group who went aroind to the classes and and did health education-which consisted of teaching them how to brush thier teeth and wash thier hands. While we think of these things as second nature, for these kids, It could mean the difference between being healthy and getting very sick and ending up with no teeth! Afterwards I got to help in the pharmacy and took the medicines to the waiting room and explained to the mothers what to do/how often/when to give thier kids the medicine. These people needs are tremendous and it is such a good feeling to know that you really are making a difference in these kids´ lives. The poverty in which they live is unexplainable. The bathroom at the school was awful-waste filled the hallway. I want more than anything to be able to explain to these kids that there is hope, and where it is found.

We got to see the boys at Kawai after supper. I´ve missed the bright happy faces of these boys and it reminded me so much of last year´s trip!

I´m going to bed as we need to get up early tomorrow for another medical clinic. I hope the bed bugs don´t bite--because the ones flying around in the air of my room certainly do!