The doctor is in! To the people here in the West End community, the clinic has been a welcome success this week. In three short days, just under 300 patients have been seen and treated. Our doctors in the group and pictured on the right, Dr. Tidwell and Dr. David, expressed how appreciative every patient has been and how easy the attitudes of their patients has made it enjoyable for them to be here. Also part of the medical team are several nurses (Margarita in the picture is one of the nurses) that have been working to get patients ready before seeing the doctor. It cannot be an easy job to clasp on a blood pressure cuff, stick a new patient to check blood sugar, and write down their symptoms and personal information when a language barrier is on place. We could not have survived the week without our interpreters. Some translators were scheduled to be here and some were simply impromptu patient-turned-translator as the need arose. I am amazed at outside people's willingness to drop everything and help when the need presented itself. (It's funny how things have fallen into place all week just at the right time...not coincidental) For instance, today the cruise ships arrived in port, making it very difficult for our interpreters to get a cab to the clinic. Therefore, as 8 a.m. rolls around and we have no one to translate and patients to see, I grabbed the English-Spanish dictionary and am trying to help get information out of patients so we can get them in to the doctors. That was going to make for an interesting morning I might add! Until Rudy pitches in- he was there to see the doctor and ends up putting other's needs before his own to help translate. Even after our other interpreters arrive, Rudy volunteers to stay all day and continue helping!

Besides medical care, construction has been an ongoing project as well this week. Although the picure with Randy and Dick may have you asking where is this building they are working on- we don't see it...that is because what you are seeing is the most important part of the building, which is the foundation that they have prepared. A foundation is what we have been working to build all week, not only on a building site, but in a community. (thank you Ken for sharing that in the group tonight!)

The last picture is one of the most needed ingredients to make this week successful, and that is a group of happy children! Eddisu, along with Terri, Pat E., Carrie, Jody, Nancy, Randy, myself, and pretty much everyone at one time or another have had the extreme pleasure to play and interact with these beautiful children. Although these children have been dealt a life of struggle, they are survivors in every sense and have thrived into wonderful kids to be around. Amazing how relationships can grow in just three days. While on the first day some of the kids were sneaking markers into school bags (only because they didn't have anything of such value to call their own), by that very afternoon the same markers had somehow "reappeared". By day two, the kids are willing to talk a bit more openly with us, play games, and even call out to us in recognition later on the street. Today though...I had been working all morning in the clinic, and as soon as I walked out to the children's area, Jeremy, a boy of about 10, runs up and grabs me in a happy hug and asks when we are going to the beach. Nigel, who is cute even when he pouts, smiles when I greet him. I feel a hand on my arm, and glance down at Ariel's older, shyer sister who puts an arm around me and squeezes before running off. I am going to miss these kids and their affectionate attitudes. To finish off the afternoon, Eddisu and I rounded up a number of the kids to take across the street to the beach. We play for at least an hour, kicking beach balls and squirting water guns. Sometimes the kids get in a struggle over a toy, and we have to call out "Alto!" (stop). Three days ago, they would have kept struggling with each other- today they stopped and went on playing without further conflict. I can't really blame them for struggling with each other. Every day for many of them is a struggle to survive. However, what they don't have in "things", they make up for in spirit. For such a poor culture, the people we have met here are pretty good at spreading wealth to others. I know I will be going home a spiritually wealthier person in a few days from having spent some time here with Omar, Eduardo, Jeremy, Jahim, Oscar, Elvis, Ariel, Kaia, Kimberly, Raol, Desmond, Carmen, Josua, Damisha, Dawn and countless others...muchas gracias!