A glimpse at the mission visit and a sick girl.

With two teams here, we got a lot accomplished. One team did a medical check up of every child and staff member, and also saw hundreds of people from the local village. The other team worked on the new classrooms that were just constructed. Let the photos tell the story.

Chris Phifer is always in charge of triage.

And Raegan is her helper (getting vital stats and complaints)

I had to cover P1 (the youngest class) so that the teacher could help a scared student in the clinic.
As soon as they finished their work, they wanted me to take photos.

I remember back in February when they were all so shy and timid around the camera. 

Clearly I cured them of their fear. :)

We had a tent full of visitors waiting for help.

Pastor Tony (right) and Denis (left) were a big help with translating and giving directions.

The clinic was always busy.

Dr. Christy (from the Knoxville team) saw every child and staff member of WOJ.

Pastor David ran the pharmacy with Florence (a UG pharmacist) explaining to patients.

Emma (our youngest missionary this year) was in charge of handing out sweeties when folks finished at the clinic.

My primary job was to bring in students for a check up and to make sure they got back to class. I also took a few manual BP's when Chris was too busy. 

On the last day, the teams needed a group photo. While Floyd took their pic with the kids gathered around to watch , I snapped this photo with my phone. 

The clinics ran very well. We helped a lot of people. A few specific stories stick out to me, but I'll share just one.
On Friday morning, we were just getting the clinic open when Bob (from McKinney) came in and asked me if I knew about the two girls lying on the verandah. I hadn't heard about them, so I went out to see what was wrong. Both girls were laying on the porch with their guardians and they were sleeping. One had mucus in her nose, but I touched her and she had no sign of fever. I touched the second one and she was burning up. I went in for the thermometer and came back out. The little girl had a 104.1 fever. I went straight to the pharmacy and told them I needed to get her something to start bringing that fever down. When I went back to give the little girl some medication, I could see her face for the first time and realized that I knew her.

I said, "this is Lucky" but of course, nobody spoke English. I called over a Ugandan friend to interpret. The interpreter kept telling me that the girl's name is Rachel, not Lucky. Finally, I said, "I know but she's called Lucky. She's the cousin of Kalungi, Prosper, and Monday" As I said this, the grandmother recognized the names and knew what I was saying. She began nodding. Finally, the interpreter understood and confirmed that I was right. The grandmother is the mom of our cook, Merabu. Lucky frequently comes to play with Monday (the youngest of Madame Coook), so I see her around a lot.

I knew that Dr. Christy was just checking on the adult staff at this point, so I went in and told her I was bringing her an urgent patient. The grandmother explained that the girl was fine the day before and that during the night the fever came on rapidly. Christy gave her a malaria test and it showed positive almost instantly (it can take up to 20 minutes). I explained to Christy that from my limited experiences, I know there are multiple strands of malaria with one bring way  more worse than the others. Since the symptoms came on so strong and so rapidly, Lucky likely had severe malaria (as we call it here). I also knew from experience that severe malaria is treated first with injections for 3 rounds, followed by tablets for 3 days.

I went to Floyd and asked him to drive Mama Cook to the clinic to get treatment for Lucky (people are often referred to as Mama or Taataa of their children, like I'm Mama Tyler, Mama Troy,and Mama Raegan. Since Merabu is usually called Madame Cook, her mom is Mama Cook). He said he would do it, so I went back and asked the interpreter to explain to Mama Cook and ask if it is fine. Of course she agreed.

Joe (from McKinney) had been sitting with Lucky since he found her on the porch that morning, so he was carrying her. Floyd drove, Joe carried Lucky, I sent Makline along to interpret just in case, and Mama Cook was of course going. When they got to the clinic, it was confirmed that she had severe malaria and began injections. Apparently, with extra muzungus (white people) around, the doctor tried to charge a higher price, so Joe got to witness Floyd negotiating the cost of medical care. : ) I'm usually the one to accompany folks to this clinic and the doctor has never tried to charge me more, but perhaps he thought the white men could pay a higher price. :)

Anyway, by Friday afternoon, Lucky was getting back to normal. Late that evening, Mama Cook came to the house and gave me a chicken. She wanted to give us a gift because we cared for Lucky and paid the medical bill. Of course, I told her it wasn't necessary, but our friend Amos was interpreting and he explained that it is not a payment, it is a gift. So, now I have a chicken and I'm learning to manage it and someday I'll have eggs. :)

By Sunday, Lucky was back to normal and the US teams were on their way home.

As most of you know, Floyd and I have what we call our Love Fund that we set aside for helping folks. There are 2 things that we always provide with little question. 1) if you want a Bible, we'll get you one. 2) if you need medical care, we will help make it happen. Fortunately, medical care is inexpensive here. Lucky's malaria treatment cost about $9.