Today we arrived in Quelapa, a small town, outside of Las Vegas. We rode up through the mountain in the back of small trucks with all of our stuff. The mayor and her son came with us and an interpreter to help us set up in a small school. We started seeing people around 8:30 and did not finish until 5:30. Laurie and Kristi saw @ 180 people with problems ranging from typical headaches and sore throats to serious high blood pressure, asthma and infected wounds. Lainie and Emily ran the pharmacy and helped with translations. Mo also had a stint as pharmacist as well as some first aide triage. In my opinion, the best part was when Emily, Maureen and I taught the kids to sing the songs we wrote. It really broke the ice quickly and the little ones were eventually joined by the big ones. "Lavense los dientes, ch, ch, ch, ch, ch, ch, is a catchy little tune that learned off the internet and we will all be singing in our sleep tonight. The puppets are a big hit, especially with the little, little ones. You can see how closely they surrounded us in the picture below. I was afraid the puppets with teeth were too scary. The kids corrected my pronounciations, so I knew they were communicating!
Emily was the playground ring leader and Pied Piper. You can imagine how the kids hung on her and followed her around. We taught them to thumb wrestle and play quack, quack, honk. They taught us some games too.
Tonight we have to head back to package more meds and get ready for tomorrow.
Love to all of you, we miss you!
Donna
Wow, Donna, This sounds truly amazing! The kids look really adorable and you guys are obviously engaging them as well as providing a much needed service. Inga and I are thinking about you a lot, and wish you a safe and productive trip.
ReplyDeleteCon besos y abrazos,
Guido