Thursday, 15 January 2009

An old Chinese proverb says – you can move a kitchen, one brick at a time, but it will go faster if you have a good wheelbarrow. Dave Garshelis

Yesterday we had pancakes, porridge, bananas, bread and butter or jelly and coffee or tea for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to our assigned jobs. Mary and I went to the clinic. Dr. Godlove wasn’t there yet. The staff were washing the floors because a patient died in the hospital the night before. Mary I I gave boxes of gloves, tongue blades, otoscope, masks, hand sanitizer to the clinic staff. They were very appreciative.

Dr. Godlove arrived around 9:30 a.m. We made hospital rounds with him and saw a patient with shingles, another with hypertension, a young man with abdominal pains. Afterwards, we saw patients in the outpatient clinic. We saw an 11-month with vomiting for a day, a woman with T.B. who came for her meds, an elderly man with insomnia, etc.

We went back to the Mission House at 12:30 p.m. Turk, Matt, Ha, and Joe knocked down a kitchen wall the secondary school in the morning. The first tool to try to knock it down was a stick until it broke. Jo played and sang with students in kindergarten. Erin and Mickey observed an English class at the secondary school. Don typed our journal as no one was in the chemistry class. Mickey later taught some student and the instructed how to an electric sewing machine that they had brought here. Sharon learned about the needs of Tanzania people and the pastor by talking to the pastor and walking around.

We had spaghetti and sauce, potatoes, bread for lunch.

After lunch, Mary, Joana, and I walked through the village and tock pictures, talked with local people and bought a few items. Sharon and Don were done for the day, so Sharon painted with watercolor and Don worked on chemistry lessons. Erin and Mickey went back to secondary school, went over lesson plans. The four demolition workers went back to work. Turk felt some frustration because he felt they could get a lot done but there wasn’t enough tools such as hammers and a wheelbarrow, etc.

At 4:20 p.m., Turk coached some secondary students in soccer. There were cows grazing next to the soccer filed. The students were eager to learn and did everything Turk said. The choir showed up and had practice near the field. They sang and danced. It was amazing! By the end of practice there were at least 20 kids on the field.

Two older students, ages 30 and 36, came over to Sharon and I and talked to us. Practice ended a little after 6 p.m.

After dinner, we had our meeting with Haran and he announced that they were going to purchase a wheelbarrow and other tools for the kitchen demolition and rebuilding project. We got our work assignments for tomorrow. The day ended with everyone in an “upbeat” mood.