Mission Accomplished!

By Tuesday we had seen nearly all the children and a couple of adults. The vast majority were well child exams but there were several with irregularities that needed follow up, such as tachycardia, mild hypertension, stool guiac needed etc. There were about 50-60 that required some intervention, ear infections and fungal skin infestations and most of the younger ones have head lice; there were also some that reported worms in the stool and a couple wheezers. We also discovered several with physical findings that will require more evaluation. Tuesday we each treated 2 children to elephant rides done by the Karan Hill tribe. This was the highlight of the trip so far afterwards we had lunch and ice cream and browsed the Karan shops before heading back to the Akha training center. That night they treated us! After dinner I received the best pro-fee imaginable. The children donned their native Akha costumes and performed several traditional dances and some contemporary Christian music too. The Akha are Christian and have been for centuries, but the blend of native costumes and dance to hymns was quite impressive. At the end of their first dance they held up a hand painted “Thank you Gators” banner. After concluding the dance they called us up to thank us one-by-one and each student was given an hand sewn handbag with exquisite needlepoint decoration. Once that was done each of us got about 400 hugs as each child mobbed us on the stage screaming, “Thank you” and “I love you”. It is as close as I’ll ever come to being a rock star. I took photos and video of the evening events but I took some time to just soak up the atmosphere. It was all very moving. We learned their special “handshake” and there were plenty of American high 5’s too. I was gratified to see several of the children for the 3rd time and one who is enrolled in the local university. This is an exceptional accomplishment as it is nearly unheard of for the Akha. She is studying international business and finance. The Training center is supporting her tuition but she works 3 part-time jobs to meet her living expenses.
Wednesday, we tied up some loose ends, some of the kids had slipped by but we had a mini-clinic and quickly completed the charts. There are still charts to be entered into the databank but this will be done by their staff as they are the essentially normal ones. After more hugs and high 5’s it was time to leave our friends and begin our journey home. This was the toughest part of the mission as many bonds have been forged. We piled our stuff and ourselves into the back of the pick-up one last time and left for the airport to a chorus of good-byes from scores of happy faces.
We are now in Bangkok and settled into our hotels. Tomorrow, I have arranged for the students with EM interests to spend some time in the Emergency Department of Ramathibodi Hospital and after lunch we’ll tour the Grand Palace. We are pouring over the tour books and will plan our R&R for Friday and Saturday. Most of us leave late Saturday night, actually 0135 Sunday. There are many places to shop and many sites to see, no doubt we’ll leave with many still on the list.
The main point though is the Mission went well.