Tuesday we went to Chinsopo, in area 46 of Lilongwe. Although we were still in the capital, it is a village setting. This area is very poor, and Mirjam Molenaar has started a project with the vulnerable children in this area. We set up to do a clinic, mainly with the children and moms. Lucky Nyirenda, a clinical officier, came with us, along with two translators, Clifford and Prudence, Charles - our security and crowd control expert, (along with prayer partner and song leader!), Joy a 5th year med student from Korea, Sherrie Byram, an ED nurse from Cleburne, Texas, and Emily Prince, from Weatherford, who has developed into the lead pharmacist. No one seems to know how many people we saw, but it appears between 400 to 500. The clinic was under the trees, with Lucky and I having small tables for our office space. The pharmacy and lab operated on another two tables, with the back of the car also being utilized. The 'facilities' included a squatty potty inside a house. Lunch was a 10 minute break with hot tea and peanuts / cookies. It was delicious and refreshing! We started seeing patients at about 9:30 and were packing up by 4:30. For the last ~30 minutes, Lucky and I stopped seeing patients and helped in the pharmacy. They work hard!!!
Enjoy the photos. Thanks for the prayers for safety, as the roads can be challenging at times!
Getting the pharmacy and lab set up
Children lining up for worm meds
Emily helping Joy in the pharmacy
Sherrie passing out worm meds
Mirjam Molenaar addressing the growing crowd of patients.
Sherrie in her lab tech mode!
Sherrie in the 'lab'.
Me with the typical patients - Mom and multiple kids!
Lucky in his office, giving directions of some sort to med student Joy
Lucky in the surgical suite - we tried to convince this guy to let us remove the cyst / lipoma on the back of his neck, but at the last minute, he refused.
Emily managing the pharmacy. We didn't have very many men, but the ones we had wanted to cut in front of the women and children both to be seen and to get their meds. A line means nothing to these guys!
Charles at the end of the day - we all pitched in to help the pharmacy get finished up. I mean, their work is hard!!!
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