Good evening!!

We went to an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp today and had clinic. It was a smaller camp of about 300 people. We saw roughly half of them for varied complaints.

I had one man with an infected perforated eardrum, and a likely case of malaria. We were able to treat the infected ear, but unfortunately didn't have any malaria meds with us. We asked the man to come to the clinic at Chambrun on Monday for malaria meds. It's hard when you are limited in what you can do for people. I had several people who could benefit from a simple surgical procedure that would improve their quality of life, but there isn't a way to handle those cases that I am aware of.

I also saw a little boy for a respiratory infection, but more interesting was the family trait of a 6th finger on each hand. They had no bony structure, but the mother of the child said that most of the family has that trait. I found that to be quite interesting.

We handed out a lot of worm medicine as usual. I have a lot of fun with the men and older ladies. The med cannot be given to a pregnant woman, so I ask the men and older ladies if they are pregnant. This ALWAYS elicits a confused look followed by a HUGE smile or giggle. My interpreter today(Nikki) had as much fun with this as I did!

Speaking of interpreters, all of our interpreters are great. They are intelligent young men and ladies who learn quickly, and ask the questions that need to be asked after only a few patients go through. I think they could almost do the job without us!! If you get distracted by another team member for some reason, they often have completed most of the assessment for you!!

After being in the hot sun, we came back to Pastor Pierre's, and some of us got into the half filled, green tinted water in the pool to cool off. It looks a little funky, but it is cooler than the air and felt really good. We had a little fun making a whirlpool and floating about the pool in a whole 2 feet of water.(The pool had a leak and one of our crew was assigned to patch it. It hasn't been used for a while, and is slowly refilling with the rain and whatever water they can run into it.) I think the rain shower yesterday was slightly more refreshing ( and definately cleaner)!!

We have remained healthy for the most part. Tim had a little episode of hypotension today. Dehydration headaches are an everyday occurance. You sweat standing still, and it's like Niagara Falls when you are up and moving around. It's nearly impossible to keep up with your fluid needs when working at the clinic. We nag each other to remind us all to drink enough water.

Tomorrow is church at Chambrun. No clinic on Sunday. We get to rest. Monday will be our last clinic. Looking forward to seeing what the Lord sends us to treat.

God Bless!!

Cindy (and Tim!!)