uganda: the morning of day 2

i'll be honest, that first day in bwaise was hard for me.

not necessarily because the work was hard,

but because i was seeing things i'd never seen before.

i now have a reference point for "poorest of the poor."

my heart broke for the children as they played soccer in their bare feet;

as 6-year-olds carted around 18-month-olds; 

as kids chewed stalks of banana plants like they were twizzlers.

the next day, the team broke up into 2 groups - 

a medical group and a construction group.

i was in the medical group, and we were going to another slum called katwe,

where we would be holding a clinic with the doctors

and nurses from the ohio team. 

here's a kinda quick run-down of how the katwe medical clinic worked:

7 stations were set up inside of a small building 

located at the "entrance" of the slum 

(the building was about the size of my living room - small).

each station was made up of 3 chairs - one for the doctor or nurse,  

one for the interpreter, and one for the patient.

there was also a small room inside the building 

where the medicine was set up and dispensed - we called this the pharmacy.

so a patient would first sign up in the church,

located about 50 feet across from the small building.

the patient was given a slip of paper with her name and a number written on it

(there were a few men, but mostly women and children came out for this clinic).

when it was time for her to be seen,

she would walk out of the church, cross over a make-shift bridge 

that covered a 5ft. wide sewage- and garbage-filled trench, and enter

the small building where the clinic was set up.

once inside, she would talk to the doctor by way of the interpreter,

and after a while, the doctor would write down what medicines the person 

needed on her slip of paper. 

a runner (the 5 of us who were non-medical) 

would take the prescription to the pharmacy,

while the patient went back to the church to wait.

once the pharmacists had filled the prescription, 

we (the runners) would go to the church, find our patient, and with the help

of another interpreter, explain how to take the medicines.

afterwards, we would pray with our patient,

and by the time that was finished,

there was another person who'd been seen by another doctor

waiting for her prescription and time of prayer.

we did this for half of a day, without stopping.

the medical team saw over 175 families.

this was one of the best days of the entire trip for me.

i loved sitting down with the women,

putting my arms around theirs, holding their hands,

and praising God for making each and every one of them in His image.

the first group of people in the church, signing up for the clinic.

the path from the medical clinic building to the church,

with the sewage-filled trench that we all had to cross

by way of this make-shift bridge.

the entrance to the church, and the never-ending line of 

people signing up to be seen by the medical staff.