First Day--Wednesday July 14, 2010

After breakfast at Uncle Ben's--instant coffee/tea, powdered milk, one egg, three slices of fried plantain--- Michael said "lets go".

We set out walking toward the clinic; it took close to 60 minutes in the hot sun for the 4 mile walk. First part was dusty city traffic with no traffice lights or logical lanes. Michael did not like how I crossed the street and he yelled: "Mom you HAVE to look both ways". Then it was up and down through the villages. Little kids ran up to touch our hands and many yelled "white mon" or "white womon". Adults often waved or said good morning. Some stared. I tried to remember the directions---left at the square with the canon, right at the cotton tree, left at the orange bank---, but I gave up on all the rest of the twists and turns in the villages.

The Amputee clinic was a small building with a court yard, front porch, waiting room, lab, pharmacy, observation room, and two exam rooms. Many people were in the court yard and Michael and Bailor introduced me to several clinic employees. I badly needed a shower after the hot long walk but it was time to go to work as many patients were waiting quietly. A tall thin man named Sahr James shook my hand and said he would be working with me today. He is one of the three well trained nurses that Bailor recruited from various hospitals after the war.

We went inside one of the exam rooms with an exam bed and a desk and started unpacking supplies and instruments under the curious eyes of many. It didn't take long to get organized and our first patient was called at 10 past 10AM. Sweat kept pouring down my forehead so they turned on the generator to run the ceiling fan in the stuffy room.

Next time I looked up it was almost 4pm. All patients had toothache and many had swellings and abscesses. Two women were in tears of pain and another one had bone infection with exposed jaw bone and pus discharge. There were no kids except a 15 year old. I had to do many extractions which Sahr James was very excited about; he had been wanting to learn this he said. He did the talking, translating, and charting; he also held a flash light for me. I could tell he was very experienced in clinical work. Since part of the job was to train one or two nurses on very basic dental services so I requested a little time after the clinic closed at 4pm to go over the material I had brought, just to get started.

I never knew I could work 6 hours straight without food or breaks. It was a very good start in terms of delivery and team work, and I hope to see some children tomorrow.