Day 3 of Clinic

Whew, what a day! I worked in the pharmacy today and I really enjoyed it! I think I found my niche - at least for the time being. Yesterday and even on Monday, I felt a little bit useless a lot of times - I just played with the kids. I know, I know - that's important, and the kids need love, etc, but I got burnt out quickly from that. And I wanted to be involved medically with Chris. So today, working in the pharmacy, I was able to kind of see what Chris had been seeing, give them medicine, etc, which was a very nice change. Chris even came and found me a few times with patients that he had been working with and asked me to pray with them. And I felt a little bit like I had something to contribute. I have a good husband...I think he heard me loud and clear through my tears last night and worked hard to incorporate me today. He's so good to me. :) There was a baby today that visited. His mother tested positive for HIV, was a single mother and had 5 children. The youngest was 18 months old. The only thing he ate was breastmilk at a year and 1/2 (remember, his mother had HIV). He looked perfectly healthy...except for the fact that he looked like a 5 month old baby. He was itty bitty. Beautiful. But obviously not thriving. We suspect that he, too, has HIV, although he tested negative today. It's not unusual for children to test negative even when positive for up to 18 months. Time will tell. Nonetheless, AIDS was an overwhelming factor in today's clinic. It was kind of a rip-your heart out, I just want to take you home and love you kind of day. We started clinic 2 hours late today because the children had a program at the school today for us. The different classes sang songs, recited verses and entertained us for about an hour. It was wonderful! I loved the songs in Swahili, especially. It was beautiful to watch the children lifting their hands while they sang to the Lord. It was the best part of my day. After they were done, the headmaster said they could greet their guests and the children just ran full-speed ahead to us practically attacking us with huge smiles and hugs. Chris enjoyed playing with the kids...one of the first times he'd had that opportunity. We got some GREAT pictures. I'm trying to get them up, but it's taking a long time. I'm working on it, I promise. We had to close clinic before we saw all the patients today. We were shooting for 200 patients today, and they let in 240, even though we started 2 hours late. So it was getting dark, we couldn't see anything in the pharmacy because it was getting too dark, and the doctors were having trouble examining the patients. Not to mention, we're in the slums and it was getting dark. So finally, they gave tickets to the remaining patients and told them to come back in the morning. We almost had a revolt and they actually charged the doctors, shoving their children at them, pleading to be seen. It was actually a bit frightening and very, very sad. I'm glad we can see them tomorrow. So all in all, we saw 220 patients today and 14 of them accepted Christ! We're pretty excited about that. It's been very successful. We're excited. Tomorrow, I am going to the orphanage. Chris is finishing up the patients from today, doing some procedures (like removing a 6th finger from a child) and going on a few home visits for people who are too sick to come to the clinic. It should be another emotionally draining day. Much love to you all. Thanks for your prayers. They mean so very much.