December 7, 2009

Medical Outreach Day 2 – Chucknawar

More than 800 people showed up!!! =)

Day 2 of our Medical Outreach was a huge success. We have seen more than 556 people. We had a local Afghan doctor helping us as well. That was amazing! We loved every bit of it!!!

We left our base early in the morning again and arrived to a local clinic. The doctor was not in yet, so we had to wait for him about for 30 minutes or so. We were originally offered the use of 2 rooms, one for male patients and the other for female patients. However, the local doctor suggested that we see the male patients right outside the clinic, and he sees the female patients in the building which made sense if we wanted to see them both at the same time according to their culture. So, we agreed on it and set up a table, chairs, and medicine shelves. While we were setting them up, the villagers started to gather around the clinic.

Dr. Rafi with his first patient!

Dr. Rafi saw male patients alone and the clinic doctor handled his female patients by himself. Once the female patients were seen by the doctor, they came out of the clinic and handed me their prescriptions. My job was to interact with the female patients and hand them their medication which was pretty exciting for me. =) I thought I could have never met them before I was to leave the country.

I remember Asad told me that even a close friend may never see his friend’s wife. Of course, they can never sit next to each other and eat or talk. This was unthinkable in this culture. Even in wedding ceremonies, men and women are completely separated. I was thankful for this opportunity to help them.

In any way I can, I would like to understand them a little better. And this was that small chance. I was not able to talk to them, see their faces, or get to know them, but I could feel their curiosities and reactions to different situations; I knew they were looking at me, but when I turned my face toward them, they quickly turned their faces away and avoided eye contact. When I brought out the camera to take some pictures, they all scattered and disappeared in seconds. That was funny, I thought. =) So, I just faked it a couple of times to laugh with them. =) They seemed to enjoy it as well.

Surrounded by female patients.

Dr. Rafi saw 110 children and 313 adult patients while the local doctor and I saw 143 patients.

SFC Love and his soldiers not only secured the area for us, but also handed out FREE food to more than 800 people. A lot of them were more interested in free food than medical aid. =)

Dr. Rafi was worried that we may run out of medication too early and not be able to complete all the schedules.

One of the soldiers brought me a young patient with a minor burn on his left foot, so I treated him a little bit.

Me treating a child for a minor injury!

At the end of the day, we donated several boxes of medications to the clinic. Thanks for your cooperation!!!

People were extremely thrilled with our help and we thoroughly enjoyed helping them. Thank you!

PS… I did not throw up today!!! =)

We donated 4 boxes of medications to the local clinic!

Female prescription papers I processed!!!