B.V. Mobile Clinic

A group from California traveled to Malawi for their annual mission trip. The church has hosted trips several times to Malawi. Last year they raised funds to drill a bore hole at Bright Vision. This year they requested to host a mobile clinic. To my understanding, this would be the first mobile clinic Bright Vision had ever conducted.

Since Becca and Kellen are away, I was a little nervous setting up the clinic. You would think it'd be easy, but without having done a mobile clinic previously in this area, it was hard to know the patient load, the types of illnesses we'd be handling, and how MUCH medicine to procure. Stanley, who runs Bright Vision, did an excellent job prepping the community and the staff to help the mobile clinic run smoothly. At the end of the day, we saw 375 patients.

I always enjoy mobile clinics with groups that are not medically-minded people because you can see their joy and the love there express, even when they're totally out of their element. I let one of the church group members give an injection to a woman that was on her death bed. She had to be transferred to the hospital that was 45 minutes away by ox cart because her lungs sounded like an organ and she was swollen in ever place imaginable on her body. For less than $10 we were able to transfer her to a hospital that would be able to give her SOME kind of treatment that the mobile clinic could not offer.

A lot of times when we hear groups are coming, I'll admit, some of us grumble. We grumble because we know they're going to ask "interesting" questions, they'll be a little high maintenance (sometimes), and they're tired from the plane ride. Being exhausted brings out the interesting side in people. All in all though, I've learned to love groups coming. Why? Because in my short term mission trip I was broken, changed, and called to Malawi. In 2006, on the floor of the central hospital where I was weeping I was called to return to Malawi. So, instead of grumbling when groups come, now, I relish the fact that some people MAY have that same calling and shattered heart that I received in being here on my short term trip. Now, does that mean every day is peachy and great and I like being around the people? No, but it does mean that I should love them through their heart's breaking and the reality they see first hand.