After a quick breakfast of rice, beef strips, and copious amounts of decent coffee, we piled into the same 15 passenger vans. (Note, these are typical US sized vans but with extra seats jammed in.) After an hour and a half of driving through stunning countryside, we pulled up to a village school in Inagawan, a Geographically Isolated and Depressed Area (GIDA). Our medical clinics were to be the kick-off for a huge environmental, sustainable agriculture, medical, and outreach project of our partner church, Life Church. I loved this part of the week, we weren't just dropping a Gospel bomb, there was going to be critical follow up!
The school was set up nicely for a medical outreach with the triaging in one of two courtyards and a waiting area with live entertainment set up in the other. The various classrooms were occupied by the docs, dermatology/minor surgeries, dentists, etc... They weren't expecting to have some nurses qualified to do basic prenatal exams, so we got placed with the minor surgeries for privacy. I actually didn't mind because it was more quiet, a bit off the beaten path, and I loved keeping tabs on what kind of surgery was happening across the room.
I was SO impressed by the ladies I saw. We had copious amounts of prenatal vitamins to pass out, so before I handed a pack to one preggo, I asked if she was already taking something. Iron with Folic. Great! (The Philippine Gov't has really gotten the ball rolling for handing out free iron and folic to all pregnant women through their community health centers) As I gave her the vitamins, I instructed her to take it with her biggest meal to avoid stomach upset. She then said, "But I take my iron at dinner time with a big glass of calamansi (lemon) juice, should I take it at the same time?"WHAT?!?! What women knows and volunteers the info to take iron with vitamin C, especially in a small, rural village like this? Absolutely unheard of. I really encouraged her to keep taking the iron and C at night, but take the prenatal vitamin with breakfast. Later I snapped a picture with her, her cute-as-a-bug's-ear daughter, and the other nurse, Jenni.
My favorite surgery was on a middle-aged man who had a grapefruit sized sebaceous cyst
removed from his right buttocks. How in the world did this man sit with that thing? I cannot imagine living with that thing for years as he did.While we were treating the sick, another team was doing community service, painting a little native hut to be used as a classroom for the high school students. They were supposed to be building high class playgrounds they had shipped from Hawaii, but the mafia run ports kept slapping them with all sorts of "fees," even though they had all the correct documents. Now we're praying it gets released in time for the follow-up trip next year! :) Here's a picture taken by one of the team members.
After we finished seeing over 1000 people, we got back to our hotel and showered and got all dressed up for a fancy-shmancy dinner with the mayor of Puerto Princessa. It was a delightful dinner that he couldn't attend due to other obligations, but after sitting through 30 minutes of a powerpoint presentation regaling all the good he had done for the city (do I sound ungrateful? sorry), we got to see a wonderful cultural show put on by an award winning group.Again, LOUD or LOUDER. I wanted so badly to turn the speakers directly at the sound men and give them a sampling of the pain they were inflicting.
Tomorrow is a 5:30am departure time... (thus the reason I am writing all these posts a week later and adjusting the post date...haha!)
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