March 10

A late post due to technical difficulties....

The children at the Akha training center wake up at 5 am and begin their morning devotion time at 5:15 am. It is an incredible experience to have 400 singing children serve as your wake up call. Our day begins early as well. Many of the children will receive medicine for several days after we leave. Our nursing team, Kathy and Amanda, organized a medication administration record to help the training center staff administer the medication properly. In addition, Kathy collected the urine of a few children to test for urinary tract infections. We identified one infection, and this child will receive an antibiotic.

We purchased a multi-vitamin with iron for one of the older girls. We suspected that she had a significant iron-deficiency anemia based on her history and physical exam. Dr. Ferguson taught us to exam a patient's palms when looking for anemia. If the creases of the palms still have color, it is a good sign. If the creases lack color, "Get on the phone and call the blood bank. Now!"

Later this morning, we took a group of about 30 children into a local market area. There were many local crafts created by the Akha people. We walked around the various stalls and shared ice cream with the children. One shop was home to several large snakes. One weighed 120 kilograms. That is about 264 pounds! For a small fee, you could hold the snake with your friends and take pictures. The children were very excited about the opportunity to have their picture taken with the snake!
After a hot, dusty ride back to the training center, we shared our last evening with the children. Dressed in traditional attire, they performed a tribal dance for our group. They thanked us for coming and offered us many, many hugs. It was like the last night of summer camp. Many children asked if we would return. We are eager to return, and we look forward to seeing how much the children will grow and change over the next year.

We are off to Bangkok tomorrow. The adventure continues!

---Jenn