Being put to work.... Days 1-3

Our first clinic site on Monday morning was in a small village called Kigezi, Uganda.
When we first arrived, there was a line wrapped around the small school.  The school consisted of nothing but dirt floors, benches and a chalk board.

My role all week was team leader for registration.  The job's task was to register each person in line by asking their name, age, and placing a wrist band on them.  I LOVED this job and loved working with my new friend Lee Ann   It gave me a chance to say hello to each and every person.  We hugged each person, told the older women they were beautiful "Ole Merongi" (which they all laughed at the Muzungu attempting swahili, and held all their hands if they showed fear.  We thanked these beautiful people for coming to the clinic and putting their trust in us.  

This was from my journal entry immediately as we finished registering people......

"My heart is broken - fully.  We just finished registering 200+ patients.  We were able to add 60 extra and 2-3 who had forms.  About 70 more were not able to be seen and it hurts so much.   I can't stop crying   How can they have so little when we have so much.  It doesn't seem fair at all."

Jimmy was our translator and THANK GOD for him.   He was so great with the patients and helped keep us organized and fair.  Often the patients would sleep at the clinic the night before to guarantee them time with the doctor.  We witnessed a lot of people trying to "slip" into the line, and having Jimmy there really helped us weed those people to the back of the line.  In fact, Jimmy runs a day school for children and helps PMI when he can.   We were able to give the dresses Elizabeth and Judy made through Dress a Girl Around the World to Jimmy to hand out to some of her girls along with the prayer dolls Momma Sweeney made.

One little nugget really pulled at my heart strings on day one.  His name is Rodger.  I met him early in the  morning just by a simple wave he gave me.  Throughout the day he was just around and close to me wherever I was.  Rodger never spoke a word to me, just came up to me when I acknowledged him and put is head on my stomach and hugged me.  He was precious and so timid.  By the end of the day I asked a translator to come over and ask him his name and if he was feeling ok.  The answer was yes, he was just really shy.  I hugged him goodbye when it was time to go and could feel his heart beating so strong.  It was truly amazing.

Our clinic site on Tuesday was in a village called Biiso - very close to Republic of Congo.  We were able to see 240 patients on this day!!!  It was very hot but the team pushed through.  Ken had an awesome job of working the glasses department on this day.  He put glasses on people who were not able to read their bibles any longer.  Talk about rewarding!!  The reactions on some of the patients faces gave him goosebumps!!

 Ken was even able to assist an elderly woman with potential Tuberculous.

On Wednesday we visited a new site for PMI in Rinyanya.  It was beautifully placed in the mountains of Uganda.  The people were extra special.  When we arrived we were met by song and dance from a few of the locals.  We also loved how all the patients came dressed in their finest!!

I was grateful to have a strong team this day since the triage and provider rooms were a bit away from the pharmacy.  Along with registering  the team is responsible for running the patients from point A to point B and dropping off prescriptions at the registry.  Upon arriving to this site, we were astounded at the amount of people in line to been seen.  Inside their church there was over 1,000 patients!!!  It was incredibly moving to walk into the church and see all of those black beautiful faces staring at you.  The smell was something I will never forget.  We got right to the registering of patients but did request the guards to come in and be near us just in case given we were enclosed.  I was so so so grateful to have Ken by my side during registration.

Some very special stories to come............