Our day began with a trip to the local pharmacy to pick up some supplies for the clinic. There we met Roshnan and Rajesh, two Indian pharmacists who kindly provided us with everything that our doctors ordered. They even gave us some supplies for free!

Roshnan the pharmacist on the right

Suresh the pharmacist

They were also excited to tell us that they had seen us on national television the day before with the First Lady. They had been  watching TV in the pharmacy when the news segment featuring our group aired live. They recognized the two doctors in our group during the broadcast and were very happy that they had sold us the medicines that we are using in Bubanza.

Day three was another day of trying to see all of the patients that had registered for treatment on day one. Today we went through the two ranges of numbers that we had passed out and worked with the people to estimate the number of patients that needed to be seen during the day. Our doctors also wanted to spend some time treating the students volunteering to help us so we factored them in as well. Once we determined that we’d only be able to treat about 100 patients we then went about the process of dismissing everyone we knew wouldn’t be seen so they could go home, eat, and feed their children.

People waiting in the registration room.

Our team leader and our doctors all agreed that we didn’t want to dismiss anyone who wouldn’t be treated without sharing a simple message with them about the love of God that is available through Jesus Christ. They also wanted everyone to receive an opportunity to turn from their sins and ask Jesus to forgive them. So, once we had a list of patients that would not be seen we shared a message with them about the love of God. We told them that we had come to see them because God loved them and wanted to help them. He wanted to forgive them of their sins and lead them day by day into a new lifestyle of love and faith in His Word.  When we asked who wanted to receive this new life from God about 60 people responded yes. We then led them in a simple prayer so that they could start a relationship with the God that we serve and be forgiven of their sins. After that we prayed for the Lord to heal the sick among them and to take care of their families. Then we dismissed everyone whom we wouldn’t be able to treat before the end of the day.

There is really only one word that describes the rest of the day after that point: hectic! In addition to the work we had planned to do there were several emergency cases which we attended.

For example at one point a women outside the clinic asked us to see her child right away because he was dying. Out of fairness we are always concerned that someone will make up a story in order to be seen before others; but in this case it turns out they were telling the truth. Her 2 year old had a fever of 105F and rising and was very dehydrated. So our doctor asked the nurse for some medication to bring the fever down quickly and then ordered the rest of us to give the baby a couple of cups of cool water as well as a sponge bath.

Here we are cooling down this baby with a sponge bath.

Within the hour the child had a normal temperature and was released with his mother. We were very happy that we had been able to treat him. But later that afternoon we saw the same problem repeat itself 3 more times. Each time the child received the same loving care and was released.

We also had two emergency cases enter the clinic but weren’t able to treat them. In both cases each person had a major foot problem. A young lady appeared to have dislocated her foot; but without an X-ray our doctors couldn’t tell if they needed to pop the foot back into place or set it in a cast because the foot was broken. Also a young man had a large brick fall on his foot while doing construction work; but again without an x-ray it’s not possible for our doctors to determine the appropriate course of action. So we ended up dropping these two patients off with a trustyworthy government official who assured us that they would be taken to the local hospital for treatment.

We also had several requests for prayer from patients and witnessed one bona-fida miracle. An elderly woman came to the clinic hunched over and in pain from an arthritic condition. Once the doctors determined that they couldn’t do anything for her they asked the team to pray for her. After we prayed she was able to stand up straight and walk normally. She left the clinic singing and rejoicing because of what the Lord had done for her!!!

A team member praying for a patient.

The doctors also asked the team to pray in cases where they knew a miracle was absolutely needed. For example one child came in with a case of typhoid and we prayed for her. Another woman came in with what appeared to be a large cancerous mass; we prayed for her as well.

One of the most difficult parts of this outreach has been implementing a working pharmacy. It is difficult to process the prescriptions in a timely fashion as they come in from the doctors. It turns out that preparing medicines for patients is not an easy task.

Our pharmacist from Harvard Law

Our Persian real-estate mogul turned pharmacist

Explaining how to give different medications to different children on different schedules to parents don’t know how to read is also a challenging task. Our pharmacy spends a lot of time making sure that everyone knows how to take their medicines properly.

Our nurse reviewing instructions with a patient.

A team member going over the prescription with an interpreter.

From time to time the doctors have to stop what they are doing in order to help fill prescriptions so that the team doesn’t get backlogged; but all in all everyone in the pharmacy is doing a *fabulous* job.

We left Bubanza very late in the evening; so the President’s chief protocol officer and several soldiers accompanied us back to Bujumbura from Bubanza. From there we went straight to our restaurant to laugh together and enjoy dinner after a long day of ministry. The food was fabulous and we all had a great time! Not all of the team made the dinner because some of us were ill. Hopefully we will be at full strength tomorrow!

The team relaxing at dinner time!