Team Wells started our morning with a devotional: Gail reading/Fanny translating a Christmas letter from an 88-year-old nun who served in Guatemala. She described life’s hardships in broad strokes. She wrote about feeling like a bird on its back holding up the sky. How important it is to be the bird, to hold sky, even when the world reflects harshness.
Bob shared that yesterday Team Wells treated 517 patients. Teeth pulled. Vitamins given. Ultrasounds. Surgery referrals. Mobility challenges made easier.
Today the volunteers went to a new site: Canton Chotacaj. Everyone jumped in and transformed classrooms to clinics, pharmacy, a kitchen in a classroom too. A kitchen where Hector and his crew cook fabulous meals for the volunteers. Food made with love.
“The world really is held together with duct tape,” one of the volunteers said as they set up their gynecology clinics with PVC pipe and blue drapes and duct tape. As they created private exam rooms, one with an ultra sound machine propped on a school chair, propped on a student desk. While volunteers urgently McGyvered their clinics, patients came to triage and sat in chairs under an open air canvas tent.
Soon after the site was set, a 74-year-old woman visited general medicine, complaining of increasing joint pain. She came with four family members and a village volunteer. Her hip pain was so severe she could only walk with two people holding her up. Her support people carried her to the point of exhausted arms. They all needed help. She was given a referral to orthopedics for possible hip replacement, plus a wheelchair and encouragement to continue walking so she doesn’t lose what limited ability she has.
So many caring stories. Dr. Don in pediatrics asked Jeff to translate: “ Tell her her son looks healthy. His lungs sound great. Tell her she’s doing a great job raising him.” In the mobility clinic one patient was reminded, “to breathe. It’ll help calm you.” In pediatrics Mopsy counseled a young child who’s struggling in school. Once Mopsy found out her dad left his family, she told the girl that her dad leaving wasn’t her fault.
In general medicine Dr. Mike asked Kathy (a nurse and lactation expert) to assist with a patient who was having trouble nursing her two-month-old baby. The mom had a baby four years ago and breastfeeding came easy. She had a C-section two months ago and didn’t develop a milk supply. She was anxious. Upset. Wondering what’s wrong. What did she do to not have milk? Kathy talked with her and found out there had been abuse when she was six months pregnant. Trauma. Family stress. Then the baby didn’t nurse well in the first week which is a critical time in breastfeeding. “The baby didn’t want it,” the mom said. She’s feeding the baby formula which is super expensive. She can’t afford it and is making it happen anyway. Kathy assured her she’s doing the right thing. Doing the best she can. She didn’t do anything wrong.
Manuela turns 30 tomorrow and came to the mobility clinic today for a wheelchair. She’s recovering from surgery, her leg fractured in a hit-and-run accident. After she was fitted with a new blue wheelchair, volunteers sang “Happy Birthday” to her. They gave her a cinnamon roll for a tiny cake. This woman who came in sleepy, lit up. Huge smile. Tears of gratitude. As Kristel had her picture taken with her and finished paperwork, as Kristel loved her up, waiting patients smiled enormous grins. Some gold front teeth gleaming. This glow in the watchers. Genuinely happy for Manuela’s happiness.
The human condition. To love and be loved. Human needs. To know we’re doing our best. To know we’ve done a good job. To know others care. The care given through Faith In Practice is wider than vitamins, toothbrushes, and prescription drugs. Deeper than ultrasounds, EKGs, tooth extractions, and even wheelchairs. This human condition. It’s universal.
Each of us can hold up a piece of the sky. It can be a big job, sky holding. And yet, maybe not. We can hold the sky by showing we care, by seeing others, by letting others see us. Hold the sky. It’s such a gorgeous, endless blue.
