Wednesday, January 21

The highlight of my day today was the delivery of a microscope to the maternity clinic in Souza. It was donated by the clinic in my hometown of Kearny, Arizona. Here is a picture of me with the mayor and the microscope. Ruth is on the left. And here are some pictures of the clinic!

The mayor was there so I got to make a formal presentation of the microscope. The Linfield Team presented many boxes of gloves, and nets enough for every bed in the clinic, and the Friends of WEH, through Barbara, presented some medications.
Sherry, the Linfield nursing professor, had told us about this clinic. Because of insufficient funding, it lacks basic equipment and supplies. The pharmacy is clearly under-supplied. They don't generally use gloves, even in deliveries, because they don't have them. The microscope we saw there was borrowed from another clinic. They gave us a tour. Like most buildings we have seen in the villages, it was “open air.” Because it is never cold here, there is no need for glass in the windows. Louvers are the norm. In one room, with about four beds, there was a man hooked up to an IV, suspended from the wall. We were told that he and the other two in the room had been in an accident, so clearly they accept others besides maternity patients. The surgery room, used for suturing and other minor things, bore no resemblance to our surgeries. There was a single table, something like we might see in a doctor's exam room, and a single table with a few instruments on it.

In the maternity ward one woman had not yet delivered. There were two women with their new babies. One was being assisted by an older woman, perhaps her mother. The other had the father of her baby there with her. Like new moms everywhere, they were so proud!

The lab was a room like the others – no sparkling white walls and sterile ambience. There was a refrigerator and a sink. The borrowed microscope was on the counter.

We were very pleased to help this clinic out. The nursing students had brought dozens of boxes of gloves which delighted the local nurses. And mosquito nets to go over every bed in the clinic. The mayor spoke. It surprised me when he firmly promised – as translated by Ruth -- that these things would not be sold, but would be used right here. Apparently it's a real problem, that staff sell such things for personal gain.

As usual, we were warmly received and warmly bade farewell.