I am excited about the new people I have started getting to know here. I am hopeful about returning and the things that are happening here. I am touched by so many who love their country despite its political and social shortcomings. I am humbled by how hard they work. I am challenged by their grateful outlooks. I am tired. I miss my children. I am dreading 24 hrs of long flights, customs and airports bw America and I. I am full.
We have continued to see many at the clinic. A 32 yr old woman who traveled 400 kilometers to the clinic only to find out that we would admit her to Hospice to spend the last days of her Earthly life. Peter, a 1 and 1/2 yr old boy who was so malnourished that he was tiny and had little muscle tone. He didn’t move his head or respond but his eyes had life. His grandmother so humble that she would not look us in the eye as she spoke to us through the interpreter about how she had recently become Peter’s new “mother.” She told the interpreter she wished she had gone to school so that she would know how to thank us. The young man who came in so weak and barely able to walk, bleeding from an issue that we would have treated in America long ago with over the counter meds, now admitted to the hospital for surgery today. His brother, returned yesterday and overwhelmed with how to thank Danny. Many who have been to do med clinics here before report that the amount of mothers nursing babies and little babies that we have seen this time is far greater than before. Our trip leader makes the parallel between Isaac’s short life and the babies here. The privilege of getting them early and trying to impress upon them and their mothers the importance of returning to Isaac Clinic regularly. So many have have left deep impressions. Lord, help me to remember.
I am sitting on the porch with a few of my sweet college-aged friends. One just read aloud “Jesus Calling” as we admire our last African sunrise for this morning. I see coconut, and avocado tress. I am full.
I will continue to ask God to teach me as I reflect on time here. I will continue to pray for the faces and names of the people who God has allowed me to spend time around.