Week 2 Begins

We have started the second week in the clinic. Luckily both Nicole and I felt a whole lot better this morning. Although many others on the mission team have also had the same sickness and have become sick today. We must be passing around a virus throughout the team. So please pray for all of our sick ones (and that Sharaya can be one of the few spared...) Today the clinic was not as crazy as the past week, having 10 cancellations. The equipment has still not come in, so many patients just aren't coming because they have heard there is not equipment. Hopefully it will be coming n the next few days. We lost 7 team members back to the States over the weekend, and miss them greatly. But we gained 3 new members, 2 of which Sharaya and I got to work with today. They are a great addition and will add a lot to our second week here. We had a very relaxed night tonight, playing cards with a few of the interpreters all night after dinner. A game called golpe (I could be wrong in the spelling... considering I keep calling it guapo which means handsome in spanish...). It is pretty much gin rummy with a few different rules. Very fun game, altough Franko (the birthday boy) kept winning because Sharaya gave him all the right cards!! Tomorrow we are planning on going to the Monestary directly after the clinic because we hear it is an amazing experience. Then more shopping before we leave on Thursday! We don't have any specific stories from the clinic today, but I would like to share some pictures with you of the children that have blessed my day!

This is Anthony, the happiest kid I have ever met. He does not speak much, but you know what he is trying to tell you. And he just loves to push himself around in his wheel chair, although he doesn't like to use his left hand! He was very fun to play with, laughing at everything I did, even though I do not speak Spanish very well...

Luis Sebastian got fitted for a new wheelchair today! A brand new one that was left over from last year, and we finally got to give it away. Laura was my PT buddy for the day, along with Franko the interpreter/engineer (and birthday boy!). He put together most of the chair, it helps that he has been an interpreter on many MMI PT projects in Arequipa (so he has seen many chairs put together), and is an engineer major the the university. Sebastian was also a very happy and smiling boy, however not apparent in this picture. But his smile definitely brightened the day!

Ana Maria was a victim of typhoid fever as a baby causing left hemiparesis. She just loved playing with all of her therapists, chasing the ball, blowing bubbles, playing with animals, and for some reason crawling between my legs. She has about a 1 inch leg length descrepency, and we made a lift on her shoe by super-glueing a Spiderman flip flop onto the bottom of the new shoes we gave her. It is amazing the amount of crativityyou can find with limited supplies. But the creation gave her a much better gait and less pain, so praise that! She was so excited when we asked to take her picture, her mother just kept repeating how beautiful we all were. What a wonderful compliment!