God Made Space for Water Filters and Face Paint

Wow, wow, wow! What a day! We visited caves, held babies, and diagnosed biblical diseases!

Surprisingly, clinic was less busy today. I guess the brangay on the schedule didn’t have as much ability to make it all the way into town. But it ended but being nice this way for two big reasons: one, everyone got to spend more time with each patient (except dentistry, which was as slammed as it normally is) and it’s always great to get to talk with people for more than the time it takes to run them through the machine so you can see as many as possible. But it was also nice because it was Carol’s first day serving and she still wasn’t 100%, so the slower pace was definitely appreciated.

It also allowed me to slip away in the morning to help deliver more water filters! (I really wanted to go again, partially because the translators had been hyping up this barangay all week, but the Lord checked me because I was initially asked to stay back at the clinic and run the foot washing station again. But after we set it up, the volunteers from church took it over and freed me to go!)

So we headed up to the barangay! First, we met an ADORABLE baby whose name was…. drumroll ….Jadon!!!! (Definitely want my own baby Jadon now…. ;)) so the morning started off great with some snuggles and then got even better because there were actually kids in school today! No flooding. So I got to hang out with a bunch of kids too!

And then our translators and the barangay official took us to one of their main streams of revenue: a cave-pool-thingy! It was super cool and very “islandy,” if you will.

We headed back to the clinic, enjoyed a fantastic lunch (they feed us too well…) and stopped by one of the local shops that sold wind chimes made of seashells! After that lunch break, which was longer because of the lighter patient load in the morning meaning we finished earlier and the next barangay hadn’t shown up yet, I went to help in triage.

We saw cases of both tuberculosis and leprosy today. Apparently the two are related viruses. Anyway, you don’t see a lot of cases in the US, so it was kind of freaky to run into both in the same day, especially since they’re like famous for being communicable. But we take proper protective steps, so you don’t have to worry grandma ;)

Additionally, since they are such serious potential public health crises, The Philippines (and other 3rd world countries) government has a whole task force! Which means that not only will those barangays get visited and other people with TB and leprosy will receive medical care, but it’s free. Which is extra important since the treatment for both is a two year long process.

To finish up the day, I painted some faces and blew up some balloons, and applied for my departure visa. (Isn’t it weird that I need a visa to leave?!)

Tomorrow is our last day and I fear there will be lots of tears from both the Americans and the Filipinos :) I have so enjoyed getting to know my brothers and sisters better over the past few weeks and I will miss them all! (Especially my students!)

TW: photos of leprosy below

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