June 4, 2010

Quote of the day: “It doesn’t matter where you come from, it matters where you go. It doesn’t matter what you have done, it matters what you are doing.”

Today was the first day as a new group. Sherri went on her way bright and early with many great memories. Kate and I were in the clinic today. We started getting set up, and then Edward came over. He brought Kate and I to the labor room to see out vision being put into action. There was “the best carpenter” that Edward got and he was putting in screens (which are really extra bug netting) in the windows. We were ecstatic. Dr. Godlove then took us back into the room and pointed out that the bees were not only coming in through the windows, but through the walls and weiling as well that really put a damper on our day. We asked the carpenter to fix the other problems as well, not knowing if he would do so. So we went to the mother/child clinic and started to get the ball rolling by Kate weighing all of the patients, (they were all HIV/AIDS positive) and I would write it in a notebook. Then we had to take all 45 plus charts they had and then putting that information in a notebook as well. That many charts and a cramped hand later we then helped Patricia get things moving a bit faster with testing hemoglobin levels. We made an assembly line that consisted of me pricking the finger and getting a nice dollop of blood, Patricia put it on the paper and compared it to the book, and Kate wrote the results in the chart. It felt good to feel like such a help. Even the patients were saying it was moving much faster. We stayed about an extra 20 minutes to help finish and made out way to lunch. During lunch we told Edward that the bee problem still was not fixed, but we told the carpenter we would pay if he did. Edward gave us the news saying he did fix it! We were then ecstatic yet again. After lunch we went to go look at his work and there were no bees! This was by far my favorite most accomplishing day here, so far.

In the morning Hope went to construction looking like a thug with the speakers around her neck. When she got back she wanted to “put her hands in a bucket of lotion and not take them out.” She then went to the school and had some friendly visits with Carrie at the construction time.

In the morning Carrie went to the school and got to enjoy an extra long tea time and yes, Hope joined her for that to. She then helped Moses with construction and wheeled the wheelbarrow up to the house. During the afternoon a vendor came by the house and Kate and I bought some cloth paintings and postcards. Kate, Carrie and I then went on a beautiful walk and picked flowers to press to put in the postcards to send back home. Then we had supper and went to bed looking forward to sleeping in until 9:00 am!