Clinic Day 2

Today was another exciting day at the camp.  We awoke to the usual excitement of kids running, cooking, and talking.  It's simply incredible how the entire sleeping camp becomes so alive with activity.  In the distance you can hear pots banging and kids singing songs as they work and play, while each area is filled with children doing their assigned task.  And this is all by 6 am!  After a good breakfast, we started up the clinic and first saw the preschoolers.  They are such a cute bunch, how they enthusiastically smile every time we smile at them.  Sadly, when I talked with some of them, they were usually very sad because they missed their families.  Luckily, most of the children were healthy and their biggest problem seemed to be lice.  Also, they are in serious need of dental care and this would improve their situation greatly.  I am certain this is because of a lack of fluoride in the water and occasionally poor dental hygiene-although they do brush frequently from what I've seen.  

After the little kids were done, we then saw the older kids.  They were a little bit more difficult because we had to figure out what kinds of personal questions were appropriate.  It's also awkward communicating through an interpreter about something personal.  We managed to do it, and finished seeing all of the kids just shy of two days total.  After this, most of our group stayed to enter the information on the sick kids into a database.  A few of us went with Deng- one of the principle caretakers- into town to get medicine that we needed.  When the first store we visited was already closed, it began an amazing adventure.  We ran into another shop close by that had a pharmacist who spoke English.  He was very friendly and even gave us a discount on the drugs we bought!  He then told us about a hospital we could visit that might have the rest of the supplies we needed.  When we went to the hospital, we then met a Thai doctor who told us about a lab company that might have the things we needed.  We then managed to find this office in the middle of town only five minutes (!!) before they closed.  The people in the office were very friendly and even gave us their fecal occult developer solution because ordering it for us would've taken too long.  Instead, they will order it for themselves.  The cost of the items was of course very cheap, and we were able to afford it.  

When we returned, we were greeted by an emergency because a girl had broken her arm.  She fell on her outstretched hand, and she appeared to have a classic Colle's fracture.  Luckily, the ER nurses were here and knew well how to care for this kind of fracture.  We made sure her feeling and pulses were intact, and then splinted the arm to transfer her to the hospital.  Just after we took care of this problem, a young boy came in who had gotten a small cut on his head.  It was bleeding a lot, but it was not terribly injured.  We put antibiotic ointment on it after cleaning it, and then covered it.

We all shared a late dinner, and literally felt exhausted.  Living here is a struggle.  Everyday is joy and excitement, but it is living- it is not luxurious or easy.  Being here reminds me of things that I take for granted everyday.  I am also inspired because I see these kids that are so happy now, and I know that they have a good chance to grow up and be educated to succeed in society.

---Ivan