First Day in the Clinic

So today I was assigned to wound care.  Since we had heavy rain last night there were fewer patients today (Sudanese don't like rain).  But there were still over 60 who came in.  There was one boy this morning that had a laceration on his foot from stepping on a glass bottle while playing soccer.  I did not clean his wound, but observed as Jessica did.  She is a nursing student from New Mexico who is also here for two months.  The bulk of the day I spent in the pharmacy counting and pre-packing pills for the prescriptions made by our doctors (who are twins from the USA in their second year of medical school).  While in the pharmacy my Dinka friends taught me about marriage, education, and culture in Suadn, and we had a lot of fun.  Most Dinka do not speak English, but the ones working at the compound know enough for a good conversation.  They serve as translators for us in the clinic, and our Dinka tutors.

In the afternoon I got to administer DPT vaccinations to two infants.  This would be totally illegal in the United States, but Jessica taught me how to give a shot and I vaccinated the next two babies that came in the clinic.  Very exciting!

Tomorrow we are doing an outreach and mobile medical clinic at a village outside Tonj called Maloney.

The language barrier is the hardest obstacle to overcome so far.  Please pray for God to provide ways to communicate with the local men and women.

I somehow forgot my USB cable for my camera, so I have been unable to upload pictures.  But I should be able to find one from someone on my team.