the island adventure

[written Sunday morning]
I’m not exactly sure where to begin… But I’m happy to report we are back on solid ground! We attempted to leave very early Friday morning to make our trek across the lake to the first island, Mbabala. It took a while to get the boat loaded (and cranked) and we pulled out around 730am. The boat was not very large… Maybe 6x16 ft, and we had 10 people plus many bags of supplies. The wind was blowing at maybe 25-30 mph, creating at least 2-3 ft waves – so the combination made the normally 1 hour trip turn into 3.5 hours of misery! Dell was in the back of the boat bailing water as we went. Dad was absorbing the first 20% of water that came in the boat. The ladies and I were hunkered down under black garbage bags trying, unsuccessfully, to stay dry. Needles to say, not a pleasant ride, but we made it. Dell has a video to share later for your viewing pleasure!
Many people came to greet us at the shore, so happy for our arrival. The local clinical officer, Edward, had “breakfast” and tea waiting for us in his house and it would have been considered rude of us not to partake. We ate quickly, use the outhouse facilities, and hurried o set up clinic. Dad and Dell each had a small room to see patients. Kem and Janet assisted as their nurse and each doctor had a translator. Mom and I worked in the pharmacy. I created a list of our meds and numbered them so that the doctors cold simply write a number(s) on a piece of paper and then we could fill the medicine easily. I had several local men helping me translate in the pharmacy. I quickly learned to point to the east, where the sun rises, to demonstrate that they should take their medicine in the morning. Straight above for mid-day and to the west for evening.
Our original plan was to leave this island around 4pm to head to the 2nd island, but seeing as we didn’t start clinic until almost noon, we could not bear to leave all those people who had come to be seen by the doctor. So, we all decided we would now spend the night on Mbabala and work until dark, going to the 2nd island on Saturday morning. We managed to speed our process up in the clinic and see about 120+ people by dark (7pm). We had a prime view of the beautiful sunset over the water from the window in our pharmacy. I will probably let dad or Dell tell you about all the cases we saw – I’ll save it for another post. I enjoyed handing out stickers and balloons made out of latex gloves to the children. The older people laughed at my stickers, not sure if they were making fun of me, but the children seemed to pick up what they were.
We slept in another building that was supposed to serve as their inpatient facility…Basically a room with cots in it. We managed to stay warm and get a decent night of sleep. We left Mbabala about 630 the next morning, thinking we had a 30 minute boat ride ahead of us, but you heard the conditions from Friday… not much better Saturday. It took us 2 hours to get to the 2nd island, Chishi. The population was twice as big as the 1st island at about 5,000 people. Almost immediately a young man came up to me and asked if we could stay until Sunday because there were so many people to see. While we contemplated this, we decided the waters were calmer in the afternoon and we would need to leave by 3:30 to get back before dark. Plus we had plans for church Sunday. So, we worked very hard and quickly to see about 200 people from 9:15-3:15! As we were leaving, those left seemed a little upset with us, but I think we saw most of the very sick. I also left a lot of medicines with the nurse there.
We took a more direct route back across the lake (ocean) and made it back in about 1 hour and 30 minutes! Mom relates that ride to being on a wave runner going 50 miles per hour through many waves. We were very thankful to be back on dry ground. We made it back to the guest house and enjoyed a warm shower and sharing our adventures with the part of our group that stayed behind in Samfya. Wish I could share our pictures now, but the internet here does not allow. Sunday will be a day of church, beach and rest. Monday and Tuesday will be more medical clinics here in Samfya. Please pray that those we take care of in the clinic will come to know of the One who sent us!