adjusting

Greetings from Kikumbala.

It is Thursday afternoon here and we are taking a free day today to recover from all of the chaos and bustle the past three days. It is a much needed break...and I enjoyed the chance to sleep in till 8:15 this morning immensely.

Everything about this culture is different and fascinating. I cannot begin to describe all the things that there are to learn and adjust to. I've picked up enough Swahili to make it through the day...though we all rely heavily on our translators. I'm also adjusting to the hygiene here. We are blessed to have running water in our 4X5 foot bathroom...a shower head that protrudes from the wall spills a very cold, very narrow stream of water almost directly over the toilet seat...which makes showering an activity better suited for a contortionist than a medical student. But, we are coming to appreciate our digs more and more as we see what this country considers "normal".

The past three days we have been in Rabai doing medical clinics. Rabai is about 40 miles from Kikumbala, where we are staying, but due to traffic and bad road ways, it usually takes us about 1.5 to 2.5 hours to get there. We make this trip in a Matatu or taxi, which is about 4 feet longer than a mini van and maybe 1.5 feet wider. Into this vehicle we cram our 10 team members, 3 interpreters, the site coordinator, and our driver...as well as water, medicine, and supplies for the day. All told, the trip is one of the more challenging forms of transport I've ever encountered. I will never complain about inadequate leg room in the states again. :)

Our days at Rabai were taxing but very good. We did the clinics in an anglican church there (which was actually the first anglican church ever established in east africa...built in 1876). On our arrival each morning there were typically 80-150 people sitting in line. They were registered by locals of the village, had blood pressures taken, and then triaged as they waited to see the doctors and nurses. Our pharmacy then filled prescriptions as rapidly as possible..bagging, labeling, and pouring medications into anything that would hold them. We are giving primarily pain meds, stomach meds, antibiotics, antifungals, and de-worming or parasite treatments...but we have seen a large variety of cases. One of our doctors is an internal med guy, and the other, our team leader, is a family practice doctor. We also have an orthopaedic, an emergency, and a OR nurse (1 each) so we feel that there is a good spread of "specialty" to match the patients we are seeing.

But however prepared we come with medicines or knowledge base, I am learning that nothing ever feels like enough. And with limited supplies we often have the heartbreaking task of handing 20 multivitamins and 15 aspirin to a man who probably as chronic heart disease and a tumor. There is such immense need here and only so much that a temporary team of 10 can do. I have wrestled with this quite a bit in the past few days, especially as I hear people telling me that there is a perception among these people that those with white skin (the same as the first missionaries to the area) have the power to heal in very dramatic ways. We know that we cannot. It hurts me to feel so insufficient around these people...and to turn them away by the hundreds on the last day of the camp because supplies and time have simply run out. In a country with so much need, generosity will never be undesired, and the gift of health is a currency most cannot afford.

It has struck me often the past few days that I have always heard about the medical needs here and felt saddened that I could do nothing about it from 8,000 miles away. And yet, after our second day of clinic it struck me that I feel the same way. Here I am, right in the middle of all this need...and I still feel helpless in many ways. This, of course, is probably the point of taking a trip like this...to realize how powerless I am, and how quickly my generosity and kindess becomes stretched amongst so much need. I am praying desperately that God strips me of my own sense of sufficiency and strength and shows me my own weaknesses. He is doing so on an hourly basis and with increasing intensity.

At the same time, I also am praying that he will show me a miracle. I need to see in the midst of so much poverty and sickness that God is working through us even if my work seems to be just a band aid or a temporary help. I am impressed by the thoughtfulness of this ministry in the way that they set up the clinics. There is a huge amount of intentionality about who does what, so that everything is centered around the church. There is very little time for us to build any relationships while we are here...but the clinic is designed to bring favor to the church body in the village, so that after we leave they can continue to minister and witness to these people. In small villages so isolated from modern society...the church has much more potential to be the epicenter of the village life...providing support physically, emotionally, and spiritually. After the doctors see the patients they bring their prescriptions to the pharmacy and then move to the "spiritual care" area. Here, members from the local church are waiting to pray over the sick and talk with the poor and downtrodden. They are encouraged not to press for a conversion experience, but to be open and inquisitive into the lives of the people they meet, developing a relationship with those who are in need and beginning to show them how the love of Christ can meet their needs, and is doing so before their eyes.

I wish that my Swahili was such that I could listen to these conversations...but while I'm in the pharmacy bagging my 700th bag of multivitamins of the day, I am praying for them as well.

The pharmacy has been my main job since I've been here...in fact I have sort of become the unspoken supervisor over 2-3 other students, a translator who is a pharmacist and helps with patient education of the drugs, and our team leader's mother. This has been a great learning experience. I've also been able to tag along and shadow the family practice doctor a lot. More on her later...she is an inspirational compassionate doctor and a strong and passionate woman of God. I am so blessed to get to know her over the next week and a half.

Well...my internet bill is running up and I must move along...my e-mail has not been working well here so this may be my main form of communication...check back next week for more.

Missing home but loving it here as well...blessings,

morgan