Today was the first full day at the friary and the local tribe had a beautiful welcoming with songs and smiles that left us with tears in our eyes. Goretti rang the breakfast bell and we all trotted along to a great traditional meal, cereal and coffee. With so many supplies, we spent a few hours working as Ugandan pharmacists counting Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Penicillin, and Clindamycin thanks to Dr. Farmer’s amazing donation!
Setting up for our first clinic got us all really excited for the week to come. We saw about 20 patients doing various scaling, fillings, extractions and oral hygiene instruction. It was a long day, but with help from the friars, it went by smoothly. As a “trial day”, we went a little slower trying to get the flow and perfecting the process. We can knock “making friends with the local children” off of our Kakooge list.
Ending the night with a barbeque outside with the friars made our bellies ache from laughter. Words can’t even describe how funny and kind these men are. Some did the worm on the floor, Astin and Stephanie performed with plastic cups while Steph sang, and we heard some music from the friars’ native country of Poland. Marion brought out THE DOG… we were expecting something that looked a lot like a bear. Between telling the most animated stories, jokes, and dancing under the stars, we definitely hit the bed a little harder. Tomorrow we go to Kitanda. Nighty night!
Days 10 & 11: We spent our first clinic days outside of Kakooge in small villages called Kitanda (Chi-tawn-duh) and Mitanzi (Mi-tan-zi)...yeah, we still have a hard time figuring out the right way to say them. Getting our dental mojo flowing, we were able to help so many people who had been in oral pain for years. We treated ages 2 all the way to 80. From 9am to 6pm it was hard work, but we always seem to have fun at the same time with this hilarious group. Our doctors, Ashton and Mikie, definitely were super dentists and taught us so much as we worked. They always came in to save the day (aka screaming children and root tips). Right before our clinic in Mitanzi, we stopped by a small primary school on the way to teach oral hygiene to the children. Our translators, Francis and Godfrey, also showed us the twig, called Miswak, that some people used to brush their teeth. As adorable as the children already were, holding up the tooth brushes we gave them with big smiles made them ten times more adorable. Receiving so much gratitude from everyone made us realize how one person can truly make a difference in the world. Even if the child screams in our ear for 30 minutes or we get the occasional bitten finger, we know it makes a difference. Good side note: It isn't "mosquito season"! (Don't worry, we're still poppin' that Malarone every day though).
Gerard and Bennedict helping out with sterilization and screening of patients
Packing up after clinic
Bull City!
Oral hygiene instruction at a local primary school
One of our translators, Godfrey, showing us the sticks that are used as toothbrushes
Goofballs
No comments:
Post a Comment