|
Medical Tour to Remote Villages
By Corrie Sample
We were doing clinic in Pampatamerú, a little village way out in the Venezuelan savannah. It was a trip fraught with frustrations and delays, with some poor attitudes mixed in. It all started Thursday morning (Feb. 15) with a 3 hour ride in Land Rovers over some awesomely bumpy road.
The entire group of 35, including 4 kids, piled into three land rovers and one pickup truck after a crazy morning of packing food and meds for 6 days out. The road was incredibly bumpy, with crazy log bridges and steep hills.
I think the most fun though, was
hearing the comments from members of the group who have never been
out of the U.S. before. They especially loved the bridges :)
We arrived in the village of Apoipo at around 4:00 pm and soon another student and I were busy talking to the village leaders and figuring out where they wanted us to set up camp for the night. The doctors had not arrived yet, so Doug and I were it as far as Spanish speakers were concerned. We got it figured out and were setting up by the time the rest of the group arrived.
Friday morning a third of us set up clinic in Apoipo while the other two thirds got ready to go downriver to some other villages. I stayed and helped translate. We didn't have that many patients, though two of them did have had abscesses to drain. I did all the talking though, so I didn't actually get to do any of the cutting.
I was beginning to wonder though, if
maybe the fact that I can speak Spanish better than the others is
more of a curse than a blessing. It's great for them, but I don't
actually get to do as much. I see parts of everything, but that's
it. But I'm still learning tons :)
After clinic we hiked to the river to catch a canoe to Pampatamerú where we ended up spending Sabbath through Tuesday morning. It was the clinic here, held Sunday morning, that I experienced what it is really like to translate for 10 people at the same time.
I was constantly being pulled from one
group to the next. Clarifying what had been said for one group,
then going to another to ask more questions, then running to the
pharmacy to help tell a patient how to take their meds. So much
fun. There was only one other who could help with the translating
and there were 5 groups needing help.
But there weren't enough patients to keep us busy, so Monday part of the group put together a VBS program for the kids, complete with Bible skits, health talk, singing, and drawing. They really enjoyed it, as did I :)
I think we laughed at ourselves more than anything, just because we were all trying to talk Spanish and it wasn't working too well. Or we were just acting silly. But it sure was fun!
Monday afternoon we went down to the river rapids for lecture and fun in the sun. We managed to find the time to cross the large rapids in a safe, though adventuresome manner.
We found some nice jumps into the water, as well as a
calmer section of rapids to swim through. It was an absolute
blast!
Tuesday we came back to Maurak and now we are having a few days of lecture before half the group takes off on the next village trip. So far, this Venezuela adventure has been awesome!
I am getting to hang out with friends
from last year, most of whom are rather surprised that I came back.
We haven't seen anything absolutely incredible yet as far as medical
stuff is concerned, but we have gone to some beautiful locations and
met a lot of people who are grateful for what we bring. God is
blessing and I am growing in areas that I didn't know I needed
growth. God is awesome. And in His strength I am moving forward
and conquering. God bless!
In His Service, ~ Corrie ~
|
"Hey
Corrie, can you come over hear and help me tell this person how to
take this medicine?" "Corrie, when you get a chance, I need some
help figuring out what this person needs. I can't understand
them." "Corrie, can you ask them how long they have been feeling
this way?" "Umm, yeah, hang on a sec. Let me finish with this
one. Ok, who needed me? What did you want me to ask them?" 
