Kien Giang work done....were on the move!

As the lines finally dwindled, our work today, Tuesday 3/28/08 (I think),is coming to an end in the first province of Kien Giang. In 2.5 days we

saw about 550 patients. Our patient flow has been tweaked to maximum efficiency and we finished a little before expected leaving us a few minutes to play with some of the kids. We really had to beg them to let us take pictures - NOT! We have multiple Polaroids and were delighting moms and kids alike as they waited with photos of themselves, most of the people here have NEVER had a photograph of their kids.

The stories are heart breaking. The amount of physical abuse of all kinds is overwhelming. The medical team doing "histories" were hearing the same stories of abuse over and over. So sad and nothing we can do at this point to curb that. I suppose as the catalyst work continues and the poverty decreases as the education increases this will hopefully change however it is so hard to not be able to have an immediate fix. Poverty manifests in so many way's other than hunger.

One funny story was a woman who came in and out team member at the first station announced she was coughing up blood. I grab her and raced her past the line to the doctor. Turns out, the women chew these beetle nuts, may be a different word, but they chew them and spit part of it out which looks reddish. Okay, so who knew!

You may notice in many of the photo's the boys have dyed there hair....these are known as the "bad boy's" of the dump. they find peroxide in the dump and use this on their hair. Bad or not, they are full of giggles and cute as buttons.

We packed up all of our supplies and took a lunch break while waiting for the bus. Keeping supplies organized and knowing where everything is has been a challenge, but we have made it work.

Another boxed lunch from the back of a car....day six and I have yet to puke my guts out as in the past so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The kids had a day at a beach today and had a ball. I was delighted (hear the sarcasm) when they returned and my friend Martha who went with them told me how great the kids did. I of course asked if Jesse ate anything as this has been a hugh issue 9along with her outright refusal to take her malaria pills). Martha delighted in telling me that Jesse loved her lunch and ate almost all of it.....thinking "where did they find pasta", I asked, "oh great, what was for lunch. Martha delighted in telling me "PORK CHOPS".....one big "OY VEY" pretty much sums that up!

At the beach, it seems our group was quite the sight as throngs of Vietnamese crowded around the kids and watched their every move laughing at everything...groups just stood and watched as they ate, swam, and played. I guess seeing 20 Vietnamese kids, five white kids, and 8 white large adults are not a common sight in these parts. Actually, many kids around here and seen very few white people as they call us. The kids on the beach did play and interact with the group a bit I understand. I will try to get Martha's disc later and post some of those pictures.