What a wonderful way to start the day. This is the view from our hotel here in Antigua.
After breakfast, we packed up all the supplies and meandered through the cobblestone streets of Antigua to a small school that would serve as our medical clinic for the day.
As expected, we were warmly greeted by a crowd of people awaiting our arrival. There were mainly women and lots of children, but they all waited patiently and quietly as we set up the clinic.
We saw 176 patients today. (I don't know how many we had to turn away.) Most came with fairly simple complaints like cough and cold symptoms, but many also came simply for reassurance or to be prayed for.
I met a 12 year-old boy today named Alvado. He is the oldest of 7 and came to me with a humble request that I simply pray for his family, and especially his mother. His face and body were sullen and his eyes welled up with heavy tears as he made his humble plea: He wanted to bring his mother to the clinic today, but she could not walk: Alvado's father is an alcoholic and beat her last night. He also beats Alvado and his siblings. "But" Alvado reassured me, "I know God."
It was obvious that this little boy, barely 4 feet tall or more than 50 pounds, was the real man of the house.
We weren't able to get Alvado's mother to the clinic, but we were able to get Alvado more help through his school and we all felt hope despite his despair.
Meanwhile, Sarah was assisting the dentist and got to pull her first tooth. (She quickly decided that she does NOT want to go into dentistry.) She also experienced her first thrill: she listened to a heart murmur that was so loud and caused so much turbulent blood flow that she could feel the "thrill" (vibration) through the child's chest wall.
A glimpse of Antigua from outside the clinic.
Before dinner we had a little bit of free time, so Sarah and I walked around downtown Antigua for a little while. It is a quaint town surrounded by several volcanos.
Tomorrow we head to rural areas near Panajachel . . .
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