Today was a good day. No one was arrested; no one ran out of gas; and the police ignored us. Even the ATMs are working. We drove to the area of Kigama and held our clinic in a Friends (Quaker) Church. We have been in this area before. There is a nearby school that we accidentally treated for worms and conducted a sexual health clinic at last year. Our driver took us to the wrong school. As the headmaster said “God has blessed us today”. I spoke with a teacher, Clinton, today from the same school. He said they also accidentally received a sponsored porridge program last year, so they were doubly blessed. Clinton came to the clinic dressed in a white shirt and tie. He spoke English beautifully and is actually working on his Masters in English. He wants to teach at a university. We put him to work for the last two hours of the clinic and he did a great job.

Now as you have read previously, our driver, Kim, has had his problems the last week. Rather than fire him, we put him to work in the clinic today. What a great job he did! It made his day move more quickly and he was a great asset. He loved the children and they responded to him.

People came in droves today. Two persons went out into the villages with a whistle and alerted them that we were here. We started the clinic with a prayer and one of the leaders, Solomon who I have previously mentioned, started the prayer in song. What a sound the Kenyans made when they sang. I wanted to say “stop while I get my video camera”. We are going to ask him to do it again at another clinic so I will video it. As we arrived at the clinic (on foot as it was too muddy for us to sit in the fully loaded van), the people cheered and grabbed a couple of nurses and danced in joy.

We registered 762 patients and treated 260 children for worms outside the clinic. In addition, 90 people were treated for jiggers. There was a van full of tired people on the way home and at dinner tonight. It is so nice to hear the nurses chat about their day and see how everyone has come together as a team. Our thanks to Gail who consistently keeps everyone organized and moving. She is our go-to person.

As it is very late, I will post more tomorrow. To those who have commented, many thanks. A tear or two was shed from tired eyes tonight as we read out your comments. We love hear from you. You boost a tired spirit.  If you have a question, let me know and I will see if I can answer it.

Talk to you soon, Dawn