Dete

Our screening was done in the village of Dete today, a small village 40 kilometers beyond Ngerengere.  The drive to Ngerengere is an hour and it takes an additional hour and a half to travel the remaining distance because the road is not maintained beyond Ngerengere, where we stopped briefly to pick up supplies.  Our supplies were 30 plastic chairs that we arranged to rent because we knew the facilities at Dete would be sparse.  It was fun to watch the guys on our team strap the nested chairs on top of the two Land Cruisers that are used to transport the team.  We also picked up Pastor Christian Seseme, the pastor of the ELCT church in Ngerengere, who will be helping us with translation.  

The “little rainy season” lingers on at this time of the year and the rain last night brought welcome coolness to the air, but increased the ruts and pot holes in the road.  Both SUVs lurched and rocked down the road and we arrived a little after 10:30.

 

Our work yesterday meant each team member knew our process and we set up beneath the spreading branches of a large Neem tree.  People had already begun to line up before we arrived and the village elder gave us a list of 78 names that were waiting for the team.  Our patients waited patiently on benches in the shade as we worked the same flow that was so streamlined for us yesterday.

We took a brief break for a picnic lunch of bread, peanut butter, Nutella (can you say Reese’s sandwich?), jelly, hard boiled eggs, bananas and tangerines.  By the time we had finished for the day at 4:30, we had helped 142 of all ages, from 3 months to 85 years old.