Helping hands

I haven't posted the blog that I wrote yesterday morning, but I have to write a few words about our amazing day yesterday!  We did our regular work during the day, and then mid afternoon, we were invited to join Heather for a trip into a Valley community that she has been in contact with for about 7 years now.  They know and love her, and as we drove into the Valley, dozens of children waved and shouted and jumped up and down.

Heather had asked me to gather some medical supplies from the hospice at GGA, since she had recently detected an outbreak of ringworm on the heads of some of the children.  After we had stopped the combie and been warmly greeted by mobs of children and toothless Gogos, Heather showed me how to identify the fungus on the little black curly heads, and I went to work with gloves and a jar of ointment.  Jessica was an excellent assistant, and also quickly learned to diagnose the children and bring them to me.  While I treated between 25 and 30 kids, Heather sang Zulu songs with the whole gang and did lots of hugging.  She had  brought a couple of bags of rice, and a 8x10 photo of one of the families that had been taken by someone on a previous visit.  The photo brought much laughter and pointing, as I'm sure they had never seen themselves on a photograph before. 

The children in the Valleys are shy and sweet, and were very curious about Jessica and Micayla.  They cannot believe it when we tell them that Jess is 12 years old, because she's so tall.  They speak very limited English in the rural areas, but most can ask "What is your name?" and "How old are you?"  They don't hesitate to ask mine and Dan's ages either, and don't believe that we are...well the age we are!  This is probably because most of the Zulu women in their late thirties are already grandmothers, and look the part!

We also had a photographer from Norway with us, who documented the whole trip on film.  He is working his way across Africa to write articles and document different pockets of African culture.  We will try to post some pictures of the past few weeks this Friday when we make our weekly pilgrimage to the mall to access a high speed connection.

I couldn't believe what a rush I got out of this experience!  It really confirmed the dream I have of working as a medical professional in areas where simple treatments can make such huge differences.  I guess that means it's back to school when I get home!

Cathy