Creepers and Goat Births: 10-4

Today I joined Ruben in Area 2 for a clinic day with a church from New Hampshire who came on a short term trip. Julie ended up joining me at the clinic. I started with Daniel at the very front and alphabetized all the charts for him. I found it humorous that there were about 100 charts for the children at the Area 2 School and they weren’t alphabetized until after the clinic day started. But luckily I was swift in my organizing.

In the middle of the morning, Daniel asked me if I wanted to take chai. I obliged even though there was lots of stuff to be done. I ended up getting some coffee. I walked back out of the school gate to the dusty ground outside and found my seat. I plopped down and casually sipped my coffee. It really hit me that I was sitting in a plastic chair in a slum drinking some coffee just like I would at Starbucks.

Julie and I worked in triage. I got to take temperatures, blood pressures, heights, and weights. I also made more charts like before. Eventually, Dan and Ruben got distracted and left the intake area. I stepped in and busted out some sweet basic Swahili skills to greet people, get their name, and their age. It was a fun experience. Until creeper man showed up.

This man was sexually harassing me and Julie. He approached Julie and was inappropriately touching himself and she made him a chart and gave him a number and sent him to me so I could take his temperature.  A while later he walked off and Julie and I thought he was gone for good. At this point both of us were distracted by a goat giving birth about 10 yards away. We watched for a while and all of a sudden the creepy guy sat down next to me. He asked me where I was from and if I was married. I told him America and no. While he was getting the scoop on my personal life, he was inappropriately touching himself again.

At this point, Julie and I went over and told Ruben about the situation. Ruben said, and I quote, “You’re my sisters from another mister,” and that he would take care of it. (Ruben rocks.) The man followed us over. 

Ruben told the man to go away and leave us alone because we were his sisters. The creeper was kicked out of the clinic and we didn’t see him again. This was all taken care of just in time for us to see the baby goat birthed. He was so cute and kept trying to stand up to no avail. I think this combination of events takes the cake for the weirdest 30 minutes of my life.

When I wasn’t distracted by creepy men or goats giving birth, I got to spend some good time with the kids outside. I was sitting down on a concrete block in the triage area and a little boy came up to me and smiled. I smiled back and said hi. He came right over and sat down in my lap. He reminded me of David and it broke my heart. I stayed with him for a while. He was wearing the school’s uniform – a blue sweater, black shorts, grey socks, and black shoes. His sweater had big holes in the elbows. He had short hair, big brown eyes, and a beautiful grin.

After work, I drove us over to Roslyn Academy to catch the last 30 minutes of Faith’s basketball game. Her team won. We headed home for Mexico Monday with Erin, Bethany, and Justine.

However, the night was intense because we learned that the foreman on a toilet project in Area 4A was attacked by another construction worker with a wooden beam. He suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in the process of getting to a hospital when we heard about the situation. As soon as we heard the news, we immediately started praying aloud in a circle. It was great to see a need and just pray right then and there. I definitely need to do that more when I get home.