small village big impact

We travelled 30 minutes by slow boat up the tidal inlet to Manda Covenant church. It is located on the shore of a coral island. Most of the people perform the back-breaking task of manually cutting bricks of coral from the solid landscape. Not surprisingly, we treated a fair amount of lumbar pain. The huts and the small church building where we held our clinic are constructed of the small leftover pieces of coral held with sticks and mud. The cinder-block-sized bricks are all exported for larger building projects on Lamu and elsewhere. Our concern over the government clinician sent to observe our activities turned out to be unfounded. In fact, we made a good friend in Daniel, a young P.A. Who pitched in and allowed us to treat 130 patients total. His knowledge of the local medicines, local tropical diseases, and the language was a huge help and a huge blessing. At the end of the day, some of us walked through the village to observe the coral quarry workers. We played with the children, observed the young men playing pool, greeted people, and got the chance to connect with the people again. It was apparent that in a smaller village, the impact of our visit was larger. The church was the center of and the catalyst to a large dose of practical love. These people often cannot get access to any medical evaluation (let alone free care and free medications). The look of relief in a mother's eyes when her feverish infant was treated were a reminder of why we came.