So Much to Blog About...

There is so many stories to tell about the past few days. Honestly, we have had experiences of a lifetime and probably ones many will never ever have the opportunity to hear about, let alone see and witness first hand....AND to be able to give back just a smidge...not much, but perhaps a drop in the ocean.

Again, I am falling asleep as I write this, but hopefully I can at least give you a little bit of what we have experienced over the past few days. It's been a hectic, crazy, exhausting, exhilarating, mentally draining, hopeful 3 days.

During our medical camps, we saw approximately 480 children. Each child was provided a dental assessment with treatment on Thursday and Friday, a medical physical, which many have never received, and an eye exam. The medical camp was held in a house located two houses down from the school. There were 3 clinical rooms set up in the single car garage, Pat and John conducted physicals in a room off the garage, and my mom and I completed eye exams in the living room of the house. We can improvise with the best of 'em! It was awesome and so much fun to work with the little kids. They were all terrified we were going to give them injections when they came in. Fear and terror were written all over their face, but they soon figured out we weren't as scary as we looked! : ) It was just an incredible couple of days....I am so blessed to be working with these 9 people....they are all pretty much amazing. And Tim and Karla and their staff are the bomb, too!!

Just one short story about the medical camp. A girl came into the camp on Monday and she had on a sweater, a long sleeve button up shirt, and a scarf. Remind you it is 90 degrees here. Her skin was so dry and it appeared as though she had been severely burned. Her hair was thinning like a 90 year old woman....she looked so old and frail....trapped in a 10 year old's body. After assessing her and understanding a little bit of her story, we sent her to the hospital and had several conversations with her grandmother and eventually with her mother. She has a severe skin disease (Carla or John will have to explain it better later), but it appeared her skin was so dry everywhere and it was just flaking off. She said it hurt to be in the sun. She was a little slow and couldn't communicate very well with us at all. She was so precious....her beautiful eyes just looked at us with pleas for help....although, I'm not sure she even knew she needed it...and I know she didn't think she was worthy of it. My writing doesn't even come close to explaining this story well enough....basically, after two days of talking with the mother and grandmother, we came to the conclusion that she is not receiving the treatment she needs and she is most likely not wanted in her home. Her mother doesn't want her....she is not wanted. She is a burden.

Yep...there are many more stories like that from our first two days of medical camp.

Then, today...whoa...it was a heavy day!!! Carla said it was our day off, but I have found that our days off quickly become our busiest days. So...I have a lot to say about this day...but I'm falling asleep...so I will write more tomorrow. But I do have to tell you one story.

We went to an Indian prison today...amazing! Amazing, but I had a stomachache the entire time walking through the compound. We walked through the different sections for men and women. Walking through the women's section was absolutely brutal. There didn't seem to be even a glimmer of hope....the face's of these women...so bleak and hopeless. Their eyes just empty. It was heart-wrenching. Some of these women are in jail for homicide, etc....but, some are in jail for being sex trafficking. However, they were being sold...they didn't have any papers, and they got picked up. The police didn't go find the pimp...they throw the woman in jail. And in India, you are guilty until proven innocent. THEN, on the way to our next stop, we found out some of these women are in jail because they have a debt. A debt of a 1000 rupees. If you don't know the conversion rate....well, that is about $20. With all the rupees I had in my bag...I could have freed about 6 women...still might...the trip isn't over yet.

Anyways...it was amazing. Then we went to a beggar's colony, a government hospital, and a nursing home (A Home for the Aged, as they call it here). An amazing day and I learned so much....and have a new appreciation for healthcare, cleanliness, four stable walls, a roof over my head, and my own room.

I will do my best to blog tomorrow to fill you in on the other adventures we took today. I'm off to bed. We have our next medical camp tomorrow, so I have to be ready for those eye exams. H-V-O-T.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We can feel them and appreciate them more than you know.

Katie

PS...I think the jet lag is kinda starting to go away for most of us. We are still fighting the food battle, but I'm not sure we can win that one! :)