Day 4

Hailey: We went to a school today, these kids were absolutely adorable. They were mostly 3-7 years old and there were a few 8-12 year olds. Kayley and I sat at a table and did 140 student’s height, weight, and temperature and started their own growth charts that they can have kept at the school. The school was about an hour and a half away from the house, we literally drove up a river of flowing water because this school is so remote it is the only way to get there.  The kids were surprisingly in mostly good health; their average temp was probably around 99.5. We got to do some basic wound care and we saw some incidents of worms and fungal infections of the scalp. I really enjoyed this experience, it was very hands on and we got to educate and give them supplies that they do not have to keep them as healthy as we can such as toothbrushes and general hygiene kits. We also gave the school some gauze, Neosporin, alcohol pads, bandaids, and a thermometer to keep up with anything that can come up when we are not there. Crystal is going back next week with a doctor to see all the kids that we marked in need to see a doctor which is good to know that their care didn’t stop after today. Even the drive to and from the school, we learned a lot about the culture in the countryside and I found it very interesting.

Kayley: Since we are a small group and we can drive in the car we got to go to Bas- Citronniers which Crystal has never taken a group up there before! When Crystal and Redgi said we were going up the river I didn’t know they meant literally driving up the river. We went in four wheel drive and Redgi drove right up the river. It was scary at first, but on the way down the water was lower and it was kind of fun! The people who live around the river make these rings of dirk to filter the water so the dirt is not in the water; this was cool to see. Once we got to the city we unloaded and it was time to see 140 adorable little kids. At first the 3 year olds were too shy to even talk around all of the white people because they are not used to seeing us, but they got more outgoing as they were older and we were able to do all of the things Hailey listed and put some bandages on the kids. I taught them good ways to prevent sickness like using the latrines (bathrooms) and not going to the bathroom outside, washing their hands before eating and after going to the bathroom, and keeping animals outside. Hailey taught them how to brush their teeth. It was crazy to see that many kids, but it was such a blessing to be able to see them medically where they would not have maybe had someone to check them out before! We came back to the house and did some “charting” and placed all of the height and weights on a growth charts and added medical information to them. There was a light rain after dinner (the online weather predictor is never right by the way the weather is so different from what phones say!) We enjoy all of your comments thank you!!