Lugoba and Mazimbu

NOTE--It is late here at LJS and the internet is too slow to post pictures.  But we have more than 20 pictures ready to upload and will add those tomorrow morning from Mazimbu, where we can get a stronger connection.

Doug, Sophira, Elise and Pati worked at Mazimbu while the rest of the team travelled to Lugoba, a village about an hour and a half away. 

Mazimbu

International air fare includes 2 checked bags and we allocate one of those bags for team gear.  So a team of 13 can bring 13 50-pound bags of gear.  The majority of that gear is medicines and surgical supplies so the first part of the day was spent unpacking and organizing more than a half ton of gear.  Word of mouth has not spread throughout the community so we saw very few patients.  However, Dr. Kasuwi, the head of Mazimbu hospital, has asked for Doug’s help with three surgeries.  Sophia and Doug worked together to do the pre-op examinations and the first surgery begins tomorrow morning at 9am.

Dr. Kasuwi brought up one area of concern—a recent power outage fried the hospital’s generator.  Electricity is very undependable, especially when there is heavy wind or high rain.  With the generator crippled, if an outage occurs during surgery it could be life-threatening to the patient so we ask your prayers for a solution to this problem.

Lugoba

After a couple of short stops the village people arrived in Lugoba at noon and were organized and ready to begin their public health screening a short time later.  Though things were a little hectic at first, everyone was able to master an efficient system to aid the people of the village.   At the end of the day the team enjoyed some playtime with the children, singing songs, laughing and posing together for our designated photographer, Bill.  The children absolutely loved being able to look at pictures of themselves and the team even spotted a few of the adults trying to subvertly take their own photos of us.   Despite the slow start, more than 50 people were screened today and we expect that number to double tomorrow.

To finish our story of today, Brooke was touched by a woman she helped, Rose, who was one of only a handful of English speakers.  Rose asked Brooke what our goals are and how we planned to help the people of her village.   After a lengthy conversation, Rose thanked her and the team for our help in the village. She said to Brooke,  “You are all angels. I know that God sends angels at the right time and to the right place. God has sent you and your team here.”