The mobile clinics are held every Thursday at different surrounding villages near Lilongwi. This past Thursday was my first time. The basic breakdown is the group here at Teethsavers* leave at 6am via the bus, pick up the other group and supplies at the crisis nursery, pick up other helpers on the way, and head to the village which is where our day begins and ends. So the morning of June 24th, Casey and I woke up at 6am much to our chagrin, yet we were out the door by 6:08am so thankfully we did not hold up the group by much. The problem was our alarms didn’t go off. Anyway, the drive was gorgeous! I love the sky here, its soo beautiful and clear.
Upon arrival at the village center (which is more of an empty frame of a room than an actual center or house), there was a crowd of approximately 200 people waiting in the chilly weather (it’s winter right now here- which is like Redlands two days of spring). We started unloading everything and setting everything up. It was set up into stations. The people were weighed, temperatures were taken, vitals were taken, visited the doctor, went to the lab, and lastly, visited the pharmacy. I initially started out taking temperatures until the line started to congest (after about 10 people). I got placed at vitals, which initially I was rusty, but I gotta say after the 10th person I picked up my rhythm. At times, the blood pressure was difficult to hear due to the reverberation of sounds of people talking, coughing, and babies crying within the structure. After about 150 patients, I noticed that all of us in vitals started seeing where the end of the line was haha. Needless to say, we arrived at the village at about 8am (if not earlier) and worked straight through until about 1pm. Having sat and done the vitals of about 210+ people, I was tired yet had a sense of purpose and accomplishment. It made me realize how much I take for granted. Yes, I wanted a break because I was starving and my lower back hurt because it was like the bench they sat on just kept creeping farther and farther away from my bench lol. But there was no way I could stop and take a break. We were short staffed as is and there was no one to swap with me. But my momentary physical pain and hunger were small compared to their situation. I was told that the mobile clinic is based on a first come first serve basis. Therefore, the first 200 or so are seen, which usually means they are sitting waiting for us as early as 5am if not earlier.
It was definitely an amazing experience. There were a few culture shocks on my part. For instance, I was in the middle of “trying” to take a crying child’s heart rate via stethoscope (because the brachial artery was hard to access as the child cringed away) when the mother grabbed out her boob and thrust it into the baby’s mouth. I understand why she did it and it definitely is the motherly thing to do, but it was a bit shocking because I was about 10inches away from her when she did it- not to mention there were about 3 Malawian men around her and I. Yet I have come to recognize that boobs are not viewed as sexually here as they are in the USA. Anyway crying babies always made taking vitals a very interesting challenge. I was able to soothe them a few times by showing them the stethoscope and letting them play with it for a bit- but for the most part I was a strange WHITE person (hahaha).
Another amazing experience was using their bathroom- if you want to call it that. So lets just say that the moment I got to the village I had to go to the restroom, yet didn’t want to “pop a squat” and I had no time. So after the whole day, I had to go!!! So Jayme, Casey, and I found what we would call an “outhouse”…it was a small room with a door and a small rectangle in the floor. I must say ….I don’t think girls were ever meant to aim. LOL! That was interesting to say the least. Needless to say, the villagers got a laugh out of us and our expressions!
At the close of the day with a sense of accomplishment, we packed up the bus and started our trip back. We were presented with HUGE…and I mean HUGE…scones and either a FANTA or COKE soda. Needless to say, I feel asleep in the bus. Strangely, I was out until Casey was like “oh kittens”…and from a dead sleep I was like “WHAT?!? Kittens…where?”. There were some guys selling kittens, birds, and …something else on the side of the road.
The last amazing thing of that day….MY BAGS ARRIVED!!! Came home to bags which was good because I had to take my malaria meds, which made me have vivid dreams that night. I notice that I don’t get to sleep very early on the days I take my malaria med, not sure if that’s a result of the meds or if its my own doing.
*I never mentioned where I was living. Teethsavers is a house that opens its doors to missionaries. I live in a room with two twin beds, which I share with Casey from Louisiana. We do have hot water which is a blessing. There are 3 people on staff- Fred (manager- type), Letta (housecleaner), and Mark (not sure what he does yet). They are all very nice and friendly. The people who live here at Teethsavers with me are Jayme (Texas), Mike (New York), Megan (Arkansas), Tristan (Missouri), Gerda (Netherlands), Casey (Louisiana), and me.
No comments:
Post a Comment