Sante Fe Thursday Jan 20
January 20,2011
Santa Fe, San Francisco, Santa Barbara
Leaving the mission house at 7:30 and arriving at 9:30 we went passed beautiful countryside.Up, up, up high in the mountains on very bumpy roads we unloaded the trucks. We set up our stations while the men took their equipment and went to their first of six concrete floor projects. I am working with Joanna Detweiler this week and she is doing a great job of organizing the viamin A and the deworming station. She is a great asset to the team. People came slowly and steadily all morning. Today there were not as many men like we had the two previous days, mostly women and children. Before we knew it we had treated 100 people at our station. The men returned for a quick peanut butter sandwich and then back to work. It is never easy to eat our simple sandwiches while the town watches through the windows of the classroom. Karen Detweiler was taking blood from each community member. Yesterday she was very concerned that she might have made a mistake with the testing because the entire village had a low hemiglobin. Today everyone had a good number so in fact the numbers from yesterday were most likely correct and pointed to a community problem. MAMA will need to notify the proper community health officials. We noticed that there were large sugar bags that are reused for chicken manure and then washed for corn. The manure might be polluting the community water. We raised many questions at our nightly meeting about this acute community blood problem.
The afternoon was very warm but I didn't mind thinking of the cold weather back in PA. The blue sky was such a plus and the gentle breeze felt good in the open window of the classroom we were in. The people in this community were so friendly and thankful. Community members brought many gifts for the children staying at the mission center. Gifts of eggs, dried corn, oranges and small change were given with thankful hearts. Of course the men didn't enjoy the heat as much as I did because of the heavy water, the heavy cement and the heavy sand. There is a theme there! They certainly worked hard but were also appreciated by a people that truly needed the floor. Of course walking up and down the steep hills might have had something to do with the tired band of the concrete crew. Finally at the end of the day there was a little boy who was sitting nearby as we gathered our materials together. He didn't participate in getting the small gifts we handed out. It turned out that he never attended the clinic because his mom wasn't there. DR. Kathy noticed the boy had a club foot. Karen Detweiler found out some information. Sadly this 10 year old has had to deal with a club foot all his life which could be corrected. A new challenge for the team.
As we came together our team shared, reflected and looked forward to our final clinic. May God continue to bless our efforts.
Ruth Hohenstein for the team.
Santa Fe, San Francisco, Santa Barbara
Leaving the mission house at 7:30 and arriving at 9:30 we went passed beautiful countryside.Up, up, up high in the mountains on very bumpy roads we unloaded the trucks. We set up our stations while the men took their equipment and went to their first of six concrete floor projects. I am working with Joanna Detweiler this week and she is doing a great job of organizing the viamin A and the deworming station. She is a great asset to the team. People came slowly and steadily all morning. Today there were not as many men like we had the two previous days, mostly women and children. Before we knew it we had treated 100 people at our station. The men returned for a quick peanut butter sandwich and then back to work. It is never easy to eat our simple sandwiches while the town watches through the windows of the classroom. Karen Detweiler was taking blood from each community member. Yesterday she was very concerned that she might have made a mistake with the testing because the entire village had a low hemiglobin. Today everyone had a good number so in fact the numbers from yesterday were most likely correct and pointed to a community problem. MAMA will need to notify the proper community health officials. We noticed that there were large sugar bags that are reused for chicken manure and then washed for corn. The manure might be polluting the community water. We raised many questions at our nightly meeting about this acute community blood problem.
The afternoon was very warm but I didn't mind thinking of the cold weather back in PA. The blue sky was such a plus and the gentle breeze felt good in the open window of the classroom we were in. The people in this community were so friendly and thankful. Community members brought many gifts for the children staying at the mission center. Gifts of eggs, dried corn, oranges and small change were given with thankful hearts. Of course the men didn't enjoy the heat as much as I did because of the heavy water, the heavy cement and the heavy sand. There is a theme there! They certainly worked hard but were also appreciated by a people that truly needed the floor. Of course walking up and down the steep hills might have had something to do with the tired band of the concrete crew. Finally at the end of the day there was a little boy who was sitting nearby as we gathered our materials together. He didn't participate in getting the small gifts we handed out. It turned out that he never attended the clinic because his mom wasn't there. DR. Kathy noticed the boy had a club foot. Karen Detweiler found out some information. Sadly this 10 year old has had to deal with a club foot all his life which could be corrected. A new challenge for the team.
As we came together our team shared, reflected and looked forward to our final clinic. May God continue to bless our efforts.
Ruth Hohenstein for the team.
posted by DRE MAMA Project at
1/20/2011 10:46:00 PM
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