It rained last night. Was great sleeping. Did have to move my cot as it was under a leak. Oh well. It actually was a pleasant temperature for sleeping. I started the day doing the inventory in one of the containers that has medical equipment. What a chore. I hope to finish up tomorrow. I hate to repeat myself, but the amount of stuff that is sent here that is unusable is incredible. I am amazed. No we do not do open heart surgery, please do not sent cardiac cath kits to a developing countries clinics and hospitals. I read a phrase written by an organization that assesses the needs of clinics and hospitals in developing countries. They use the phrase "Junk for Jesus". And that describes exactly what 70% of the stuff sent here. So I will now climb down off my soapbox.
I did find a padded 6 inch wide strap with velcroe on each end. I cut it in half and then put it on the knees of the young lady I spoke about yesterday who can not walk. She was very grateful and then demonstrated how much easier it is to get around on her knees with the straps protecting her knees. Also, I found some hydrocortisone and gave her an injection yesterday and this morning. Maybe it will take some of the inflammation out of her swollen joints
It was a humid day. I quit for lunch around 1pm and was very surprised when my friend, Gabriel, walked up. He looks good and said his family is well. They are all now in Bor Town since Gabriel moved there for work and he did not have any close family member to help watch out for his family here in Werkok. So in June, he moved them all to Bor. I have missed seeing them, especially the kids. He said his youngest, who was born when I was here in February, has been quite sick. He is doing better, though. I gave him the bag of clothes that I had bought for them. I guess I went overboard as my suitcase is now pretty empty. I walked with him to see him off. We went towards the village. About half way there, Naomi came out of the bush and greeted Gabriel. She then started scolding me and telling me to turn around and go back to the compound. The weather was very threatening with a storm coming from the southeast. It really was dark. I had my boots on and my umbrella. She just laughed at me and told me to go. So I said my good-bye to Gabriel. I hope to be able to get to Bor next week and to buy a plane ticket from Bor Town to Juba. I can get a ticket from Juba to Nairobi on line. If things continue, I will have to walk to the main road with my luggage! Yeeesh. I keep hoping it will dry up.
The afternoon was low key. I did some homework, yes I am in school. I checked patients and I took some pictures that will be sent to some of the docs at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. I am hoping that they will come here and do some surgeries. Joy Phillips, who flew in with me, is going to talk to them. This is the place where so many of the Southwest Medical Clinic docs go. It would be so cool to have some of them here for a week to do surgeries.
I have found out that since becoming an independent country, food prices have soared. Not very much is produced here in the south. Most of the food stuff was shipped down the Nile River. All of that has stopped. I did tell Gabriel he should go into agriculture. It will be interesting to see where things go. So far I have seen no evidence of unrest. But of course, people are not getting around very well.
I will say good night to all. Please keep all the people here in your prayers. Life is very hard and I am just glad that I can make it a tiny bit easier for a few.
I did find a padded 6 inch wide strap with velcroe on each end. I cut it in half and then put it on the knees of the young lady I spoke about yesterday who can not walk. She was very grateful and then demonstrated how much easier it is to get around on her knees with the straps protecting her knees. Also, I found some hydrocortisone and gave her an injection yesterday and this morning. Maybe it will take some of the inflammation out of her swollen joints
It was a humid day. I quit for lunch around 1pm and was very surprised when my friend, Gabriel, walked up. He looks good and said his family is well. They are all now in Bor Town since Gabriel moved there for work and he did not have any close family member to help watch out for his family here in Werkok. So in June, he moved them all to Bor. I have missed seeing them, especially the kids. He said his youngest, who was born when I was here in February, has been quite sick. He is doing better, though. I gave him the bag of clothes that I had bought for them. I guess I went overboard as my suitcase is now pretty empty. I walked with him to see him off. We went towards the village. About half way there, Naomi came out of the bush and greeted Gabriel. She then started scolding me and telling me to turn around and go back to the compound. The weather was very threatening with a storm coming from the southeast. It really was dark. I had my boots on and my umbrella. She just laughed at me and told me to go. So I said my good-bye to Gabriel. I hope to be able to get to Bor next week and to buy a plane ticket from Bor Town to Juba. I can get a ticket from Juba to Nairobi on line. If things continue, I will have to walk to the main road with my luggage! Yeeesh. I keep hoping it will dry up.
The afternoon was low key. I did some homework, yes I am in school. I checked patients and I took some pictures that will be sent to some of the docs at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. I am hoping that they will come here and do some surgeries. Joy Phillips, who flew in with me, is going to talk to them. This is the place where so many of the Southwest Medical Clinic docs go. It would be so cool to have some of them here for a week to do surgeries.
I have found out that since becoming an independent country, food prices have soared. Not very much is produced here in the south. Most of the food stuff was shipped down the Nile River. All of that has stopped. I did tell Gabriel he should go into agriculture. It will be interesting to see where things go. So far I have seen no evidence of unrest. But of course, people are not getting around very well.
I will say good night to all. Please keep all the people here in your prayers. Life is very hard and I am just glad that I can make it a tiny bit easier for a few.
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