“Hey Sierra, there’s a kid who cut their head up pretty bad and they’re coming to see you in a minute.” I heard this yell from a student missionary outside the clinic. With an “Ok!” I found the box of latex gloves, the bandaids, the rubbing alcohol, and the antibiotic ointment. I had been bandaging up cuts and scrapes left and right and felt quite prepared.
What followed next was the arrival of a little boy covered in blood. After I got him sitting down in the clinic, I gently pulled back his hair to see the cut. What I found was a deep gash that even I immediately knew needed stitches. My heart pounded as I calmly said, “Ok, we’re going to need to stitch up his head.” Emilianne and Maddy, two of my fellow student missionaries, grabbed gloves as well and assisted in laying out instruments, applying pressure, and cleaning him up. The next hour was filled with my carefully trimming his hair, cleaning the wound, and putting it back together. I was so grateful for the help of Emilianne and Maddy! It was a steep learning curve on my own and having two extra sets of hands was not only comforting but extremely useful. And then it was finished, and I had stitched up my first patient at Familia Feliz and he was feeling a little better.
That Friday had started with a very short night, as I had a patient with potential Dengue sleeping in the clinic. I spent most of the night up with him, finally succeeding in getting his fever down. I was very grateful to Zoro for staying up late getting a mosquito net put up in the clinic and for Treson who cooked me breakfast the next morning when I stumbled over to their house. The little boy was feeling better by lunch and I was able to walk him home, only to find 3 more sick kids there. Needless to say, it was a busy day even prior to the stiches! While it was exhausting, I love getting to help in this capacity and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Sabbath dawned with another rabies shot and Lisiane, another SM, and me heading to a church in town for a big church mission event they were having. The building was packed, with every chair except those on the stage filled and people standing all around. To our surprise, we were quickly ushered up to the stage area and told to sit in the seats there. I felt very conspicuous as I realized that my very tall head was blocking the song lyrics PowerPoint from nearly half the congregation! The church members were very kind and welcoming, feeding us lunch following the service.
On Sunday at the early hour of 6:30am, Carlo and I walked over to the Leones’ house to take care of our little boys. Every Sunday gets easier than the one before as we figure out how to parent the kids. We fed them, played with them, washed laundry, and took a walk through the jungle. Then they watched a short cartoon and we were both so worn out that Carlo fell asleep on the kitchen counter and I napped on the stairs!
Several of the boys had supervised visits with their parents in the afternoon, which led to tears of sadness because they missed them. It’s so hard on the little kids because they feel like their parents don’t want them when they leave without them. Between the tears, the anger, and a little four-year-old nodding off to sleep in between bites, we quite literally had our hands full during supper!
We finished the day with tucking the little guys into their beds and praying with each of them. They were so cute when they got into their mosquito nets. “Teacher, Oremos?” (Teacher, can we pray?) they asked as we crouched down beside each of their beds. When all was silent upstairs, we quickly cleaned the house and left Hermano Juan and Hermana Emi in charge when they arrived home. I finished the night with nursing visits in each house and falling into bed, tired, but happy.
Monday and Tuesday flew by, full of charting, cooking, and tending to minor injuries. One morning I made quinoa bowls for breakfast, which was so exciting for all of the sm’s because we had been eating pancakes each day! Then I made tofu, which was an adventure. Not a whole lot of product for the amount of soybeans put into it! I also cut three girls' hair this week, which was a lot of fun!
I started Wednesday by taking over the Leones’ house again and getting them ready for an exciting day, a national holiday here in Bolivia called Student’s Day. It is basically like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day but for children. The sm’s who are teachers conducted really fun team games for the kids to participate in for the morning while I took an inventory of our grocery needs for the week and cooked lunch. Then we all had a picnic and spent the afternoon at various work assignments.
During the afternoon free time, the older boys’ house, the Guerreros, went on a hike through the jungle. One of them fought and killed a bat and brought it back to Treson, proudly saying that he got the bats back for biting me that first week. The poor bat! It was sad, but the idea was funny and we got a good laugh out of it later!
The evening finished with a movie and more time happily spent socializing with my fellow sm’s after the kids went to sleep. Today, Treson, Zoro, Emilianne, and I all went hiking along the branch of the Amazon River that flows through town and it was amazing!
One of the highlights of my week was the moments when little kids came running up, threw their arms around me, and exclaimed, “Teacher!! I’m better!!” One thing that I missed in clinicals throughout nursing school was getting to see a patient from the beginning of their sickness or injury to the end when they got better. It’s such an exciting thing to experience with the kids and consistently reminds me how incredible God made our bodies.
As you’ve seen through this week’s stories, I work here with some pretty amazing people. I get to be with creative, smart, and thoughtful kids, I get to meet generous and hard-working locals, and I am so grateful that God sent so many thoughtful sm’s for me to get to work alongside. I can’t wait for the adventures that God has for our next week!
Busy week!
So glad you got there with the lidocaine and suturing supplies! Love to you.