May 2, 2008
New opening lines will have to come to mind soon, the sooner the better, because each of these little blurbs about life here seems to open the same way…..just like this one…..it was a typical Tuesday here at Harvester’s….
The night before threatened us with rain that never came but did drop the temperature a good ten degrees for a few hours. This cleared the air for a beautiful sunrise that I was blessed to witness as I stumbled out of the guest house graving coffee but knowing morning medicines had to be given first.
…morning meds….it’s a pretty simple task; some of the orphans are on antibiotics, allergy medicine, anti-seizure medicine….etc. Look up their names in a book; bring the medicines to the cafeteria, and distribute accordingly. Just don’t be late, as I have been in the past, because then you have to start looking for these little guys running around all over the place, and that isn’t easy…this morning was not like that…..
When the clinic opened at 9 am, if I remember correctly, there wasn’t even a patient waiting for us….nice….Normally there are at-least one or two. Then only a very few came in…..very nice….Farrah had the day off, and so it was just Emily, Mirjam, and me.
During downtime like this Mirjam and I take advantage and run through the laundry list of medicines especially antibiotics and what they are used to treat. We turn some music up a bit, and just relax.
Then…..out of the corner of my eye….I could see one…a patient…..a bit of dread entered into my mind, but quickly remembered why I am here.
…it might have been mentioned before, but children don’t like going to the “doctor” in Sudan any more than they do at home. Each visit usually involves a shot and a prick in the finger or foot. Especially here and especially now with the rainy season approaching and everyone seems to have malaria…
This mama brought her child in and immediately started crying.
…nice…a different kind then mentioned before….a bad one…
Then all of a sudden another mama came in, but this time with a very quiet baby. She didn’t mind being picked up so we could weigh her, she drank the dawa (medicine) and was just happy to do so….nice….like the first one…..so I call out “tal-li” (come in) for the next patient. Well, some people just come in pairs, two mamas and two babies. They might have been twins, but we were not sure, just that one would not leave as long as the other was inside. Again, one baby very upset to be here, and the other is mildly content.
However, before we know it, the entire bench outside is filled with mamas and crying babies. Then two of the house mamas from the orphanage show up.
So house mamas…..they had no intention of waiting in line and decided to walk right in with their crying orphans….nice…the bad one again….
Now I have learned something new too (this is the updated part)....house mama's don't wait in line, because we are here to care for the orphans first, and the house mama's typically have very busy days as well.
If you have seen pictures of the clinic; it is not very big, one room, maybe fifteen square feet. Once the house mamas walk in, it starts this almost casual panic attack from the others; that their child will not be seen. So everyone begins to…very slowly…inch their way in. Remember, this is a small clinic, we now have five babies and mamas, four of the babies are crying, and most of those waiting outside are crying as their mamas attempt to bring them inside.
To me….a relatively small enclosed space is not ideal for any number of crying children, but like many things in life, I am not of the majority.
Now we have malaria tests everywhere, we running all around, in each other’s way, getting quite irritated. Then, after about thirty minutes, it was over….gone…..not another patient until school let out.
I think Mirjam said it first, and with her very pleasant Swiss accent….”I don’t understand, where did all of those crying babies come from”. The three of us sat back, laughed, exchanged a series of apologies and then continued on with the rest of the day; being grateful that we survived the assault….physically, mentally, spiritually, and acoustically…..very nice….the best kind.
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