My New Necklace.

Back in February on the first day of setting up the dental clinic it all started. As we pulled into the clinic compound I was greeted right off with a 15 year old boy who was lying on the ground with his face covered by the hood on his jacket. Under the hood the boy had a bandage covering a huge swelling on the left side of his face. The boy’s brother had brought him to the clinic in hopes that we could help. We had no supplies, no equipment, and no medicine available to provide the boy with treatment. I apologized and asked the boy to come back in 4 days time and we would see what we could do. In 4 days time it now being Thursday and the first day of us seeing patients at our clinic, the first patient that I saw in the line-up was the boy now known as Jacques. His chart holds dental patient number# 2 out of# 1137 as of today. After several visits to the dental clinic and the ship, about a month ago I had the privilege of handing him a green appointment card that reserved him a surgery spot on April 2.

Yesterday he was admitted to the ward and today he had surgery. The surgeons removed part of his mandible and cleaned out all the infected bone. When I went down to see him last night after dinner…he spotted me across the room and greeted me with a huge smile. I told him tomorrow was the day and he responded I AM READY, then he went back to playing cards enjoying life like all 15 year old boys should be. I left the ward feeling so happy, thinking back to the first day I saw him lying on the ground in such pain and today he was playing in the ward with all the other kids who are waiting for their surgeries just like he was.

Fast forward to today…. the surgery went well and today after work I went down to check on him. Today his smile was still present but not as big as the one yesterday, which was understandable given the circumstances. I asked him how he was doing and he said dàccord-ok in French. Then he sat up reached under his bed and handed me a necklace he had made me last night on the ward. I said for me and he said oui- yes.

I love my life.



The necklace

AHHH Isn't She Cute.

This little girl came to the clinic Friday with her dad and I just thought she was the cutest thing. I love her hair........its very stylish. :)

Excusez-moi

So this morning I pulled into the same gas station I pull into every morning to get gas only this time I was asked a rather interesting question. I asked the gas attendant who speaks small small English, if he works on Saturday and Sundays. He responded with a Yes I do. I then replied by saying. We don't work on Saturday and Sundays we rest and sleep. He then said oh would you like me to come and SLEEP with you. ME: What!!! No I don't want you to come sleep with me. Gas attendant: You don't like that idea... Who then will you sleep with.

MY SELFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF


oh he said and smiled as he walked away.


I sure hope that was just a moment of cultural misunderstanding. HAHA

NEW PICTURES!!!!!!!!!

I realized the other day as I hung my head in shame, that I had not put any new pictures up since I had been back. SOoooooo now they are up. Click on the pictures below to view more of the same category. Each picture takes you to a new set of photos. You can also click the titles on the right hand side of the blog under PHOTOS, that will get you there as well.

Enjoy! and I promise I won't wait so long to add more.
Thanks ~jess

The Beach

Tenerife

Arriving in Benin

Just Hiking Around

Ganvie- Stilt Village

The Dental Clinic

Babs Dock

Around Town

THANK YOU!

A picture of a thank you note we received today after one of our patients finished receiving treatment. He asked for a pin and paper and after a decent amount of time he had composed this thank you note for us. And where does our strength come from the Lord and thank you notes like this. :)

Line 'em Up

I am very happy to report to you that the stick posts and ropes the security guards put up yesterday WORKED. The eyes line up today was so organized and orderly that it made it possible for the eye team to at least examine and screen all 500+ patients.

I was very proud of the security guards and they were very proud of themselves. I drove up to the clinic this morning and they all greeted me with a smile and a thumbs up. There we no mobs and no rushing today.

Good Job Security Guards.


The orderly line. I wish I had a picture from the past few weeks so you could really appreciate this line as much as I do.
People waiting with out pushing and knocking other blind people over.

and look we even had room for a zemidjan parking lot. How Wonderful!

Eyes... are used for viewing the world we live in.

On Fridays we share our clinic location with the Eye Team. On Friday mornings when we arrive it is not unusual for there to be 500+ patients crowded around the gates to our compound. These people are desperate and in need. They would do and give just about anything for an entrance ticket.

Last Friday was absolutely crazy! I was standing in the court yard with my translator going over our strategy for how we were going to get through all the eye patients to find 45 dental patients... Naomi ( my roommate) was standing in the center of the court yard screening people. Things were calm inside the gate however things out side were not so calm.... the security guards decided they'd had enough so they opened the gates and at that very moment about 450 people came rushing into our compound. It was CRAZY! I had never seen anything like it before. I started yelling things in French that I didn't even know I knew how to say. I guess they understood me they listened to me.... anyway after all 450 people were inside Naomi's day volunteer came up with this brilliant idea. He said well lets go outside and start handing out tickets and then they will all ran back out... so they did and all 450 people rushed back outside the gates. I turned around at one point to see what my team was doing and they were taking pictures and videos of the event.

As I glance back at that moment now I laugh at how things like this don't happen at home, but I can tell you one thing my eye our now opened and my vision is clear. As the herds of people were rushing in there were people who were flat out bawling, there were young people carrying there elderly relatives in on their backs, there were little children that were being ran over by adults, there were ladies pushing and shoving other ladies, there were men yelling. It was like a bull race. I thought to myself how does it feel to have such a need that this is the result. There was a point during the crazy rush were I felt like time was being frozen and God was showing me the severity of the needs here.

Anyway today before we left our security guards came to me and asked if it was ok if they try to set up rope and form lines in preparation for tomorrow. I agreed with them that that was an excellent idea. Before we left I walked outside to see the progress. While I was out there I spotted about 20-25 people on the other side of the road: some lying down in the dirt, some standing, some sitting. I asked what are those people doing over there... and one of the security guards told me that was the beginning of the eye line for tomorrow. He said they have been here since 2:30.

Can you imagine sitting and sleeping outside the gates of a clinic for 17 plus hours?

Eyes are used to view the world... and eye problems are huge needs here. I'ts Obvious.

The guards forming the line with rope and sticks outside our clinic walls.

The 20+ people who were in line already @ 2:30 in the afternoon the day before the clinic opens

The belongings of the people waiting all lined up, marking there place in line.