the best things in life are free

I am constantly reminded of what a difference the little things can make here. Of course we see daily the impact of a hug, spending a little time with a kid, using a word instead of hitting, explaining something to a child... All these things change the view of the world for one person. But since I'm here for medical stuff, I figure it makes sense to tell you some of those things :)

Burns. 2 weeks ago, we had two separate burns on the school kids who come in from the villages. One little girl was badly burned on her shoulder and arm from boiling water, and a little boy was burned on his forearm from a flat iron. Little thing #1: We cleaned the wounds. Nothing fancy. Cleaned with normal saline (basically salt water), applied simple burn cream you could find at any Wal-Greens and covered with a clean dressing. And now they are both healed. Amazing!

Infections. Yesterday another little boy from the village came to the clinic with his sister who goes to school at GSF. This little guy was so quiet and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get him to tell us what was bothering him-a small wound (looks like Staff infection, but who really knows) that had grass seeds in it and was obviously infected. Simple thing #2: we took the seeds out and wrapped the leg. Easy. Just some pliers and that good old normal saline again and we've got a clean wound! He came back today and the swelling in the leg is greatly decreased and the wound is opening, releasing all this pent up pus. Smelled terrible, but now his leg has a chance to heal!

Knowledge. Today my partner and I conducted a women's health class for the teenagers here. We went through all the traditional embarrassing stuff, made the girls all giggle. Simple thing #3: we took questions. The girls asked about getting pregnant, hygiene during their periods, abortion... Hopefully we are building bridges making ourselves more available to the teens. Maybe today there was a pregnancy prevented, an abortion averted, or an urinary tract infection avoided.

Play. Both yesterday and today were the first times I've had to really play with the kids. I broke out the frisbee only to discover they are good! Simple thing #4: we had fun. I hope this time invested leads to deeper relationships beyond the games.

Although I am TIRED, God has been GOOD TO ME. I cannot deny it-believe me, I have tried! I have worked so hard to make this on my own. But this place is too tiring. I just can't pour energy into it all the time without Jesus working through me. It is too exhausting! So onward we go, going to bed late, waking up early. And realizing that often the best things in life are free.