AJ and I were able to go on our first mobile medical clinic this past week. We went to a village south of Lilongwe about an hour away. It was so beautiful. The village was closer to the mountains and there were ridges up above where you could see even more villages. When we arrived we set up the make-shift medical clinic in the pavilion. I took blood pressures and there were other people doing weight, and temp. AJ assisted in writing the vitals in the health passports that everyone had.
The people at the village had probably been waiting since 5am we were told. Once they had their vitals taken they got in line to see the nurse practitioner. They were then prescribed medicines and treatment and they went to the pharmacy area where they were given the drugs. When I finished with the bp's I went to help in the pharmacy. Wow, so much to learn! But I did learn how to say 1, 2, and 3 in Chichewa as well as "morning, noon, and night". But don't ask me now....I'll have to be taught it a couple of times before it sticks.
There are apparently no geese in Malawi. Therefore, instead of the kids playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" they play "Duck, Duck, Chicken". Here AJ is playing with the village children.
Carson has been here for a year and loves doing the mobile medical clinics. She's an ER nurse from the States (Texas). She's teaching me everything she knows! haha!
The children LOVED having their picture made. It was hard finding good pics though because anytime I brought out a camera they acted wild jumping up and down and putting their hands up for me to take a pic. I tried to show them to just smile. I need to learn more words in Chichewa. But after every pic they had to see themselves on the camera. They'd just giggle and giggle!
This is a part of the village up on the ridge. You can see the walking paths going up on the ridge.
Here are some of the beautiful people from the village. It's polite to ask before each picture is taken. Some people don't want it taken, but everyone I asked was happy to have a picture made. Afterward they always wanted to see themselves in the camera so I would show them the picture. Thank you, Lord, for digital cameras!
This beautiful woman above brought her son and asked me to take his picture. They were both so happy to see them afterwards. I took a few!
This woman was my favorite. I was in the middle of the children taking a picture and I turned around and she grabbed my hand. She held my hand and looked me in the face a gave me the biggest smile. This was the only way she knew how to communicate with me. I asked if I could take her picture and she nodded. The above picture is the first picture (a lot of times the women here will not smile for pictures even if they've been smiling before).
And this was the picture that I took after showing her the first picture. She had the biggest smile on her face and I was able to capture a little of it. What an amazing experience!!!!
I have more pictures to share but I'll write another post soon. Please pray for these people and the work that everyone here is doing. There is such a need and there are so few "workers". It was an amazing experience that I can't wait to enjoy again.
Jill
