By Mick
Day 7, Pastor Touche's Village.
Luckily today was a late start, Heidi and Caz had to take one of yesterdays kids to the clinic, which allowed the rest of us more time to recharge from yesterdays marathon clinic. Our schedule should be less hectic from now on with only 3 more clinics. I'm sure we are all feeling the physical and mental fatigue. However, after a good breakfast (omlettes again) and 2 cups of cambodian coffee you soon feel ready to face the day. -- cambodian coffee consists of strong black coffee with a shot of condensed milk, the combination of caffiene and sugar soon has you bouncing off the walls.
Today started with Andi as the cursed one; despite her insistance that she only had a small spot on her arm she recieved a chorus of cat call such as "scabies girl", "unclean" etc.. she soon realised she'd get no sympathy from this lot, but at least she had functional footwear!
Todays clinic was a short journey away (a 20-30 minute drive) another idyllic county setting which Tanya thought was "simple beautiful". Rather than being underneath a hot tin roof of a small wooden church we were positioned on a tarp under the shade of a big tree. A few tables and benches later we were ready for business. There was some debate as to how they were going to rate the loo. It was truly organic with a wide selection of trees or shrubs to choose from. There is a definate advantage to being a male when it comes to the rural ablutions.
The pharmacy team had to "hit the ground running", with most of the bagged drugs used up yesterday we to work at a feverish rate to keep up with demand. It's easy to identify from the colour of fingers who has been bagging what drug. Toni and Cor - red fingers - mutlti-vitamins, Michael - white fingers - panadol.. etc. Bryony decided to hand out fruit barefoot (?) and caused great amusement to the locals when she prompty trod in the only cow pat for 100 yards, her fingers remained clean but she used plenty of wipes and water to clean her foot, especially between her toes.
The highlight for the nursing team was the projectile puss while lancing a little girl's infected palm. Rachel was unfortunately in the firing line, but trooped on like a true professional. One little boy had a nasty ear infection, again lots of puss. Thanks to a lot of practice today the interpreters have mastered the word "THRUSH" without getting the tongues tangled up in their teeth.
Cambodia finally caught up with me on the way back to the hotel. The ride back was mercifully quick but felt like an eternity of cold sweats and clenched buttocks. After 7 days of doling out drugs, at least I know which ones I need.
Day 7, Pastor Touche's Village.
Luckily today was a late start, Heidi and Caz had to take one of yesterdays kids to the clinic, which allowed the rest of us more time to recharge from yesterdays marathon clinic. Our schedule should be less hectic from now on with only 3 more clinics. I'm sure we are all feeling the physical and mental fatigue. However, after a good breakfast (omlettes again) and 2 cups of cambodian coffee you soon feel ready to face the day. -- cambodian coffee consists of strong black coffee with a shot of condensed milk, the combination of caffiene and sugar soon has you bouncing off the walls.
Today started with Andi as the cursed one; despite her insistance that she only had a small spot on her arm she recieved a chorus of cat call such as "scabies girl", "unclean" etc.. she soon realised she'd get no sympathy from this lot, but at least she had functional footwear!
Todays clinic was a short journey away (a 20-30 minute drive) another idyllic county setting which Tanya thought was "simple beautiful". Rather than being underneath a hot tin roof of a small wooden church we were positioned on a tarp under the shade of a big tree. A few tables and benches later we were ready for business. There was some debate as to how they were going to rate the loo. It was truly organic with a wide selection of trees or shrubs to choose from. There is a definate advantage to being a male when it comes to the rural ablutions.
The pharmacy team had to "hit the ground running", with most of the bagged drugs used up yesterday we to work at a feverish rate to keep up with demand. It's easy to identify from the colour of fingers who has been bagging what drug. Toni and Cor - red fingers - mutlti-vitamins, Michael - white fingers - panadol.. etc. Bryony decided to hand out fruit barefoot (?) and caused great amusement to the locals when she prompty trod in the only cow pat for 100 yards, her fingers remained clean but she used plenty of wipes and water to clean her foot, especially between her toes.
The highlight for the nursing team was the projectile puss while lancing a little girl's infected palm. Rachel was unfortunately in the firing line, but trooped on like a true professional. One little boy had a nasty ear infection, again lots of puss. Thanks to a lot of practice today the interpreters have mastered the word "THRUSH" without getting the tongues tangled up in their teeth.
Cambodia finally caught up with me on the way back to the hotel. The ride back was mercifully quick but felt like an eternity of cold sweats and clenched buttocks. After 7 days of doling out drugs, at least I know which ones I need.