Day Eight

     Day Eight had it's emotional ups and downs. We were planning on doing two clinics today - one in an Aeta village and one in a mixed village. Two people had to stay home this day... the heat was taking it's toll on some of our party members. We took the truck to the first village (lather on that sunscreen [it's amazing how you can get sunburned before 9 am]) and we drove past Mt. Pinatubu (the volcano that erupted in 1991)

So the little guy in the center... that's the volcano (surprising... but true)

The side of the barrier where no lava flowed....

The barren side where the lava flowed (no plant growth)

Awesome action photo :-)

We went up a pretty bumpy road... everyone was in pain :-)

   So when we got up to the village - we first went to the house of a boy who had passed away the day before. He used to be a student at the Aeta Children's Home - so we went to visit his family. We got to his house - and his whole family was there. They had him laid out on the table and everyone was around him. The pastor led us in some songs and then he prayed for the family. It was really sad b/c people from the Philippines are very stoic and it and was really hard to see the family showing such pain. Also - because what he died from would have been so easy to treat here in the U.S. He died from TB and malaria... and only at 12 years old. It was pretty difficult for our group.

    Our time at the clinic was successful. We provided medical care, gave food, and also gave out toothbrushes and Jason did a demonstration on how to brush your teeth. At our second clinic - we provided more medical care... but one woman gave us the evil eye since we wouldn't give her a whole tube of muscle rub. The thing we ran out of first was our pain killers - and those were gone after the first day - so muscle rub was our next best option. I had to admit that it was getting pretty hot by afternoon - so I was feeling it by the second clinic. Thank goodness for gatorade(again).

     

   After we got back from clinic - we spent time playing with the kids.... it started off as a nice game of basketball, some jump rope... and then after several girls kept running up behind me and touching my hair - I decided to let them play with my hair. It was pretty painful though... they aren't the most gentle hair-doers. It was really fun playing with the kids and Todd. He played football with Jason and I - and I think I jammed his finger. Sorry Todd. We ended the evening with some more vitamin counting - and discussion about our time so far. 

Day Eight - Complete