Well, the computer here at our guest house moves at approximately the speed of sloth, so I'm not sure how much I'm going to get written before our internet card times out.
Anyway though, our first day working with Hope Worldwide was amazing. Jose picked us up at 7:30, before which Paul's grandma mysteriously brought us all burgers for breakfast without any of us but Paul knowing she had come by. After making our way through some awesome Manila traffic, we got to Hope's Laguna center, a beautiful center for physically and sexually abused children, that functions to advocate for children, increase awareness of abuse as a problem, work with abused children and their families, and in some cases, give abused children a refuge place to live and get a good education and healthcare if their home situation is beyond help. We were paired with a dentist today, and after our tour of the site, we have basic physicals to all the kids there, while she checked out their teeth. It was a great way to ease into the experience. We've all done history-taking and physicals in class, so we at least sort of knew what to do, so it kind of broke us in gently into caring for real patients, not just actors like we do in class.
After lunch, we went further into the Laguna area, into the shanty town area, where we set up in a little government clinic and treated about 100 children for various things, mostly skin wounds and scabies. This was an interesting learn-on-the-fly experience, since none of us have any diagnostic skills yet. Thank goodness Dr. Gossman is here, or we would all be lost! Kelsi and Ben were both a big hit with the kids, who were fascinated by Kelsi's blond hair and Ben's red beard. Not sure if that makes them circus attractions or celebrities. So many pictures were taken. So many.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and we have the day off. One of the Hope drivers is going to take us around the city to take in some of the sites, which should be a good time. Not sure where all we're going yet, but Intramuros is high on the list.
Gotta get off the internet, thanks for checking our blog! We'll try to write again soon! -Alyssa
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Alyssa - In order to save the time on your internet card, you should type your blog entry in a Word document, then copy and paste it into your blog once you're connected. That might save you a lot of time and frustration.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update! Enjoy your day off.