Day Eleven

This trip has gone by so fast! I can't believe that it is already Saturday - and we have successfully completed all of our clinics. The plan for today was to get up, get some breakfast, get packed and head to the beach :-) Once we get to the beach, we were going to take these little boats to a private cove where we would spend the afternoon. *A funny note from the night before was that Praise was telling us about the boats and what we would do the next day. We asked how many could fit into one of the boats and she said, "Well, since you are a bit big, maybe only 3-4." We couldn't even hear what she said at the end because we all started laughing so hard. Thanks alot Praise... so we're a bit big huh? Maybe just a little bit big :)

The three women in the middle are adults.... I'd say we are a bit big :D

    But then Praise was completely embarrassed by what she said so she tried to fix it by saying, "You're just larger than average..." haha like that's much better! It was so funny though - so it was ok*

    So we get to the beach - the SOUTH CHINA SEA! *Not the East China Sea like you might have thought* and it was beautiful!

   So this was what our day of rest and relaxation looked like! Now here are a few pictures of us big people in the boats

Please note Todd sitting in the front like a beacon of hope - and also protecting those girls front the sea spray that got my COMPLETELY WET... and burned my eyes!

     After we spent some time at the beach, we took the boats back to the main beach where our host group from the Children's Home was waiting for us with a very delicious lunch and COCONUTS. After we spent time there stuffing our faces - we got packed up and squished like 15 people into our white van with some big water jugs and the giant pot that the food was cooked in. Let's just say that it was like human tetris (not the Japanese game show) - and limbs where everywhere :) What a good time.

      Once we got back to the Children's Home - it was time to get cleaned up really fast, and then we had a farewell party. The kids had songs prepared, dances, and we even got certificates! It was really touching because all of the kids cried as they prayed for us - but we were able to make them smile again once we gave them all beanie babies. 

   After we ate dinner - it was time for us to do our final packing and get ready to leave. It took us a long time to get everyone in the vans since the children kept wanting to get their pictures taken. We had a great ending to a great trip.

Day Eleven - Complete

Day Ten

    DAY TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wowzie Dowzie... I can't believe it has already been 10 days. Today was our last day of clinic and it was going to be held on site at the Christian Medical Clinic. We got up bright and early (as usual - except today was a little more difficult) got ready, and had breakfast. I made the mistake of taking my malaria medicine a little too early (and without food) so by the time I got to breakfast... I was feeling a little queasy. All I could do was sit there - and I finally had to excuse myself and go lay down. Jerilynn came in a few minutes later and said "Did you throw up?" nope... I sure didn't... but I felt like a could. She told me, "Because I saw you sitting there at the end of the table staring straight ahead... and I wasn't sure if you put something in your mouth that you couldn't swallow... or you wanted to puke." :-) nice. But after a few minutes of laying down and 1 piece of bread later... I was right as rain.
    We went to the church before the clinic started for the church service - and while we were there, the power went out. We were told it would be out until 5 pm. oh man. 

Some of the group waiting for church to start

Our awesome helper - Todd... or Jerry.

This baby wasn't super happy with Colette :-)

We had to do a urine screen... so here is the picture rundown 

"Please don't fling anything on me..."

and pose.

not quite sure what the results were... oh well.

Brie - a.k.a. jungle gym

These were the 2 little piggies we bought to replace the ones that died :-( I hope they have a bunch of little pigs running around in their piggery soon!

This is Dr. Emmanuel standing in front of his clinic.

   We did 2 rounds of clinic - one before and one after lunch. We ended around 4 and spent the rest of the day getting cleaned up, dinner, and packing up all of our stuff to get ready to head home. We have one day left - but it will be a super busy one!

Day Ten - Complete

Day Nine

So it is now THURSDAY!!!! The schedule for today was the same as the other days - clinic, clinic, clinic. Well just one clinic - but we were doing clinic with the Aetas. My job for the day was to be on the wound team and take care of any wounds that came through our doors (or under the roof we were under). Here are some pics from our time today.

Brie and I were matchies - just in different shades :-)

   After our clinic was over - we drove back to the Children's Home in the back of the truck - and almost lost 2 of our translators to low hanging branches... and decided that we would not spend the afternoon just laying around. We decided that we would take a trip in to Olongapo to check out the Supermarket (pretty similar to what we consider a grocery store - except no air conditioning), STARBUCKS    look at those cinnamon rolls! They were GIANT and cost just over $1. Ca-RAZY! We also went to Subic Bay, which is the old US Naval Base in the Philippines and checked out the ocean. Let me tell you that we took our sweet time at Starbucks. We just loved going there :-) Subic Bay was pretty cool too - now that the naval base is closed, it is a hub for local businesses, and is TAX FREE to help boost the economy!!!!

     You would think with looking at these pictures that it was 75 degrees (like San Diego)... FALSE. It was still like 95... and pretty humid... but it was great. When we got back to the house - we played with Dreamy some more, pet the cutest little pup ever... and watched the little kiddies run around :-)

Day Nine - Complete

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

Day Seven

    On Day Seven we had our second clinic at another Aeta village. We got up to the village and there was a crowd waiting for us.  This is what the houses looked like at this village - they were a little different from the houses at the other village - but still cool.  Today I was on crafts - and Darcy and I were making Salvation Necklaces. It was fun b/c everyone (even the adults) wanted them.

    It was pretty crazy at the clinic - same like every other day. Everyone from around comes to see the doctors - and to probably look at the white people. Case and point.

So these two women waved me over and said "picture, picture!" grabbed their kids, and had someone else take a picture on their cell phone. In another picture - she was pointing at me... apparently - I'm Barbie. I was just laughing so hard b/c they waved all of their kids over to take a picture with me :-)

  So here are some pictures from our day of clinic...

It started raining - we had to run for cover

Pharmacy

Food distribution

The food we gave to the kids

It was a pretty steep wall...

We were sitting at a little table...

   So we rode back to the Children's Home in the back of the truck - and I got sunburned :-) Oh Doxycycline (My malaria medication) - so even with sunscreen - I turned a nice red color. We had some more time relaxing when we got back... swimming... and had our own little drug ring - counting vitamins. It was a funny picture if someone would walk in and we are all passed out with vitamins laying around us. That was also the night that I took a Benadryl for my heat rash on my face... passed out right after dinner. 7 pm. Wowzie dowzie.

Day Seven - Complete

:-D

Day Six

Ok the name of the game is speed blogging.
    So Day Six was our first day of clinic where we were going to go into the Aeta villages and provide medical care. We weren't sure what we were going to see when we got there - for all we knew - they may have all been naked (they weren't.... but we didn't know!) We were told that our first day - we would have no shade and it would be HOT. This had us worried after the little fainting spell that occurred on Day Five at the hospital - so we prepared with water, GATORADE, and sunscreen.
    We were very pleased at what we saw as we pulled up - and had to hike 100 meters (in Filipino distance... we were afraid it was a mile... but it turned out to be 100 meters)

SHELTER!

CHAIRS!

It was almost from a movie

I was hard at work :-D

... BTW - my scrubs... and my gatorade matched my eyes :)

    I was at the Triage table for our first day of Aeta clinic. So I got the person's name, age, and main complaints (which were: cough, cold, body pain, and UTI) It was crazy because there were a surprising amount of people who could not tell me their age. It also seemed like the mothers were guessing on their children's ages... like they mom would say "9 years old" - for someone that I would say 4... maybe 5 years old. I doubt that birth certificates exist with the Aetas.... it really did seem like another world. 

Cute little guy!

Passing out bags of rice to families

All the children getting lined to up receive lunch

Handing out lunch to all the kids

Cute little pup who was trying to cool off

Dr. Emmanuel seeing a patient

   We spent the morning doing clinic - we finished around noon and when we headed back to the Children's Home - we spent the afternoon cooling off, swimming, getting in our daily nap and playing with the kids (photos to come). We all had the opportunity to assist Dr. Emmanuel in a circumcision. It is tradition that all boys between 9 and 12 get circumcised so we were able to help the Dr. It was very different than procedures that you would see here... and the finished product was not what I expected. As Nate put it so gently... they went from a turtle neck to a V-neck. Thanks Nate. But that does give a very appropriate picture. Sadly... I had to leave before the end of my procedure... b/c I started to get a little faint. I didn't want to pass out and ruin the "sterile field"... since I was his assistant - so I told him I had better go - and yes, my face was white. It didn't help that the exam room was SUPER HOT!!!!!!!! He was basically done so it wasn't that big of a deal. The boy (who was 12) was content with his sucker (and yes - he was given lidocaine - they aren't animals!) and 3 other younger boys were watching through the glass door - not very much privacy.... oh well...

Day Six - Complete

Far right - Pastor Wilson - creator of "To God be the Glory" Ministries

Orange Shirt - Pastor _______ (it's a secret) - who was awesome and was a big help to us throughout the trip