Super Saturday

We are done with clinics. Whew! Everyone took full advantage of our situation and reverted back to a college sleep cycle. The average wake up time (at least for us males) was 11:30; perfect time for some grub. After our ritual noodles, we headed out to the Vietnamese version of the projects; a pair of long buildings, separated from everything else and surrounded by dirt. These are the poorest people I was told by one of our escorts. Well good, thats why we're here. We distributed rice we had brought for the community, with a conveniently placed Vietnamese flag surrounding the food collection point. It's phenomenal how little these people had and their attitude. Many wouldn't allow us to help them with their 40lb bags (malnourished women) back home.

Taking our flexing muscles elsewhere, the vans were reloaded with the other half of our purchased ton of rice. Our next stop was the orphanage, which included the elderly who no longer had anyone to take care of them and the abandoned youth. This was intensely emotional for all involved. Many of the kids had disabilities and a few were mentally ill. Our loving staff of nurses and pharmacists (among others) did what they do best and took many of them to their hearts and plenty of personal connections were made. Hugging was the physical exercise of choice. The team brought toys and supplies to donate along with the food for the orphanage. A soccer match was also played with the boys. The MVP of the day was definitely a young boy in a wheel chair who played, on the ground, goalie. He was diving everywhere, pulling off great saves and had quite a throw on him too.


When we look back on this trip years down the road we will certainly have much to reflect on. Everyone has certainly been touched in one way or another. When gearing up for this journey I was fully prepared for the physical demands that everyday would throw at me. What I wasn't ready for was the overall emotional investment I would make. Everyday at the clinics brought new opportunities to reach out others and today was no different. The orphanage brought the full spectrum of emotions from smiles to tears. I know personally that it was pretty tough seeing these kids in such deplorable circumstances and realizing how little we can actually help. With this said, befriending these kids was the best thing to do, and that's just what we did. It was pretty awesome spending time with these kids as they showcased their huge smiles and sincere joy with everyone they came in contact with. Little was actually communicated verbally, but much was said through gestures, which told the whole story. At the end of the day I know the short time spent at the orphanage made an impact on everyone involved. This event reminded me of something Katie Beth said during a nightly meeting the team likes to have to discuss our days. She said something to the effect that God is using this experience as a chisel and that we would return to The States a change person. She was right, it's amazing at how much the team has grown over these few weeks and we will certainly make the most of our final few days.

This was surely one of the most rewarding days thus far because we got to spend some quality time with severely poor and needy people, instead of simply spending 3 minutes of clinic time with them. It helps that the children and the elderly (perhaps mainly Helen) are so darn cute. The little things can make a huge difference for these people. I hope we made these people's day, they definitely made ours.

Posted by Kevin Lindsay BME and Jacob Matthews BMB