First Day of Work

Today was a very busy day. It was our first day in the clinic. We started off our day with devotions with the staff. Alicia spoke about God being concerned about our inner beauty and challenged us to find out ways to develop that in our lives. It was really good and and it was just the message I needed to hear. Then we all went our different ways.

The guys went to teach in the pastors school in the morning and then worked on tearing off the grass roof on one of the store rooms. Eventually they will be putting a tin roof on it. Tiffany and Sheena went straight to work on wound care, Alicia went to work with the moms and babies, Amy went to work in the pharmacy and I had to do triage. I was so nervous. I don't know one thing about triage. At first I couldn't find anyone to show me the routine and I felt helpless. People were waiting to be accessed so they could receive treatment.Finally, a translator came to help me. We went over to the patients who had already been given a number. Mondays are busy so we had a lot of people. There must have been over 75 people to treat. We first went through the line looking for emergencies (people laying on the ground, open wounds) and then sent those people to the front of the line. The we went around again and I took the temperature of all the kids. Anything above 38 degrees Celsius is considered a fever. I had around 7 kids who had a fever. One child had a temperature of 41, which is frighteningly high. He was also struggling to breathe. It turns out he had malaria and pneumonia.

After two hours, the triage was done. I was apprehensive at first. I wasn't sure if people were going to be mad at me for pulling others to the front of the line. However, no one was. I think they are just grateful for the help. It was fun to get to interact with the people and make them laugh. Of course they all laughed at me when I tried to speak Dinka. Some of the kids were scared of me. I don't know if that was because I am white or because I had a thermometer in my hand. Both probably. Most kids I could make smile.

Once I was done with triage, I helped Amy and Peter in the pharmacy. Around 1:00 we broke for lunch. During lunch, Sheena and Alicia helped deliver a baby. It was so exciting. Hopefully I'll get to do that at some point during the year. After lunch, we continued to work until all the patients had been seen. Once we were finished, Tiffany, Sheena and I worked on organizing a store room full of medical supplies. We didn't get a lot done, but we got a good start.

This afternoon I was working on my blog (it was my turn for the team blog) and Monica skyped me! We got to video chat for about 10 minutes. The connection was slow, but it was great to see her. Mary and Elizabeth (two workers in the compund) saw me talking to my computer and stopped by to see what I was doing. They saw themselves on the screen and I tried to explain they were talking to Monica in America. I don't know if they got it!

It was a very tiring, but productive day. It was neat to work in the clinic and see how Suzy and Sabet's ministry blesses the people here. Many lives are saved due to the work they do. John-Paul, the clinic doctor is amazing. He is so patient and kind to everyone. No matter how many patients he has to see, he loves each one and gives them all the time they need. He is my example of Jesus here in Sudan.

P.S. Thanks for the comments! It's great to hear from you. If you want to email me you can at spacie19@hotmail.com.