Guatemala: Day One

We've finished our first clinic and boy, does it feel good!  829 people saw a medic and received vitamins, parasite meds and the medicines they needed.  115 people had dental work done, extractions, root canals, restorations, and cleanings.
Our team in the pharmacy is now a well-oiled machine, as one new person put it.  A lot of us have done a number of these clinics so once we get back into the groove, it's old hat.
There were some stories of people who really needed our help today.  A woman whose son was shot by her son-in-law, who escaped, needed not just medicine but prayer as well.  I just heard tonight at supper about a 6-year-old girl who had genital warts, in her mouth.  I should explain that we visited a slum in Guatemala City.  The gangs and narcs run the streets at night.  There are homeless kids who have been snatched up by these guys and now have no hope for any kind of positive future.  12-year-olds are turning tricks on the street.  It breaks my heart that some of those sweet smiles I saw today will be broken tonight as I sit typing this.  It doesn't seem fair that I and my family are so blessed while others have to deal with respiratory problems just because the houses they live in have no doors so they breathe in dust from the street all day and night.  It doesn't seem fair that while my family has a safe community to live in, there are others who can't sleep because they hear gun shots all night.  It doesn't seem fair that we need to come down here to do these trips because there is so much need.  I hope and pray that my fleeting smiles were enough to show Jesus' light to those people.  Do they know we care about them?  Love them?  Hope that their lives can be somewhat better by what we did for them?  I'm sure they do.

Sorry about going on like that, but it's my heart on my sleeve.  Maybe you'll understand a little of why we keep doing this over and over.

Here are some photos I took today.

Our pharmacy area today was VERY small, but we made it work.

And some of those precious faces: 

As I mentioned last night, if you'd like to get updates quicker, I've been posting photos on my Facebook profile. I'd love to have you join me there.  For some reason I can't get Facebook to work right now, but if you can search for me, Krista Posthumus Ritskes.  You won't be able to see anything unless you are my friend.  When you send me a friend request, please mention that you're coming from my blog.

Until next time!