August 18th - A Plea for Volunteers

Having come off of being at the clinic from 6:30pm - 6:30am, I needed to rest this morning from 9-11am. When I woke, I needed to "hunt down" Brittany to relieve Leigh at 12:30 at the clinic. I stopped where she was staying (with Lori at the farm...in the same place we were last summer), and unfortunately woke Lori up. The doctors told her that the medications are beginning to work for Dengue - so that is definitely something for us to be thankful for. On the down-side, we found out that 3 of the toddlers of staff here at Emmanuel now have confirmed cases of Dengue. Rachel had told me that Dengue fever has been in the newspaper a lot lately in Tegus and that 3 have already died in the country. We see a truck some and "fumigate" the premises 1-2 times a week now.

Andrés was in the clinic again to relieve Brittany from 3-4pm, and the stayed a little while longer to help me bathe the children for the evening. I do not want to "steal his thunder", so I will let him finish up the story of excitement for the evening. We are heading uphill again with the number of children in the clinic. This evening we're up to five. What makes this time around particularly difficult is two things: 1) the knowledge that I'm only here until Friday, and 2) the fact that all 5 are ages 8 and under...and 3 of them are toddlers.

Rachel also let us know this afternoon that she needs to head home, permanently, in 2 weeks. I only walked in on about 1/2 the conversation (so will probably hear more later), but can say that she was supposed to stay until November when school let out. She is working full-time at the school as an English teacher, and this came as a shock to us all.

With that in mind, here's the situation at Emmanuel: within 2-3 weeks, there will be only 2 volunteers here. We've heard around 5 are coming mid- to late- September, but for a short span, there will be only two who try to fully man (actually "woman", hee hee) the clinic. I know that this blog is reaching my family, close friends, many from church, and previous students - but if you feel a calling in your heart to serve...now is the time that Emmanuel needs it. Let me know & I will hook you up with the right people.