First Day of Clinic

Monday

Nancy, Amy and Lynda went running before breakfast much to the entertainment of the children walking to school. Us older folk were in awe of their energy. Afterwards we went to the Rambia clinic and met with the staff to review our program and priorities. We were impressed that they had already written a program which includes visits to 5 schools (in one day!), making home visits with the Village Health Workers and bringing the Village Health Workers to Rambia for training.

The number of patients grew steadily through the day but it was not too hectic – by the end of the day we had treated about 30. Amy said that she had never seen so much illness that had gone untreated for so long. Nancy is excited about an imminent delivery and Lynda handed out toothbrushes much to the excitement of the children who swarmed around her. But we are all distraught over one of the inpatients who is an emaciated 13 year old girl, with the appearance of a 5 year old. She has been abandoned and is malnourished. Some of the other patients’ families feed her at times but otherwise she is neglected. We need to find a place for her.

Towards the end of the day we were formally greeted by the Rambia Board and thanked for our work. We talked about our vision for their community to have clean water, proper sanitation, good health, improved incomes and spiritual health, and discussed the part that we hoped we and Rambia could each play in our partnership.