Three Blind Mzungus: 9-22

I got to drive this morning! After Wallace dropped the kids off at school I took over for a little while. We had to get gas and then Mary and Wallace realized that they needed to visit someone, so they called Doug (from BDS) to pick us up on his way to Pongani. All three of us decided to go to Kosovo to work with FAME. We walked over with CHE. Timothy walked with us to make sure we were safe.

While we were walking up the big hill to Kosovo, a group of 4 guys stopped us. They wanted to shake our hands. I figured it would be best to not agitate them, so we said hello as we walked and then they shook our hands. They didn’t really want to let our hands go (I kind of yanked mine away). The leader of the bunch was talking to Julie. He was kind of looking her up and down while still holding her hand (which definitely made me nervous). Timothy told them to leave us alone and go away. The leader said, mockingly, “Oh, he’s afraid we will rob you, but we won’t.” He then flipped off Timothy using a few choice words in English and they walked off. My false sense of security in the slums is now gone. It was just what the doctor ordered. Timothy definitely had the situation under control, but I was very very glad he was there. Just having a man around equals safety since we stick out like three sore thumbs. We are definitely a bunch of lost Mzungus (white people).

We got to Kosovo and took tea after tallying up the number of patients we helped yesterday. It was 165! After chai, we alphabetized some charts. I then helped do some heights and weights. I got to help out in triage taking chief complaints and temperatures (with the help of a translator). It was really fascinating. I got to see everyone who came in and then I got to hear half of their problems (Leann got the other half). There was a lot of lung congestion. Many were coughing up yellow phlegm. Lots of people had stomach problems – pain, swollen bellies, and diarrhea. One girl said she had blood in her stool. Some people had ringworms. 

All of the kids were super cute. The parents were very appreciative of the medical help we were providing. In the clinic, there was a health education section. In this area, they learned about basic health things like covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze (but not with your hand). Everyone got a sucker and the kids got stickers.

We ate lunch with FAME because it was their last day. They are so cool and so much fun. After lunch we chilled for a bit and then the kids at the Kosovo School had a program for us to watch/participate in. We prayed first. Then we worshiped God. It was such a blast. Those kids can clap! Then we danced with everyone and finally had cake. They gave a piece to every kid. The FAME team went around with forks and fed everyone. Then (after feeding everyone) they fed us each a bite of cake. I really hope I don’t get any crazy diseases because we ate off the same fork as the kid. At the end, the man running the assembly asked if anyone didn’t get cake. He said, “You know we teach you honesty and we want you to live an honest life. Is there anyone here who didn’t get a piece of cake?” Nobody raised their hand. I was so impressed by those kids.

We rolled out of Kosovo at 5:00 (a driver had to come pick us up).