The Local Hospital

The day after clinic is spent restocking the supplies for the clinics. We spend time filling up bins with clothes and filling small bags with individual portions of pill and medicines to give out. We also had the opportunity to go to the local hospital. Hospitals there are certainly nothing like hospitals in the US. Patients are put in wards of beds with many patients in one large room. The pediatrics wing has a few extra rooms with one for malnutrition and a few rooms for tuberculosis patients, although they really weren't "isolated" the way we would isolate them in the US. It was hard to believe that there are rooms in the hospital just for malnutrition, something rarely seen back home. We also met a boy nicknamed Lucky. He was 14 and had been in and out of the hospital for skin grafting and healing from a burn he suffered two years ago. He was in his hut and the petrol (gas) had leaked from one of the canisters in the hut. When his sister lit a candle for light, there was an explosion and Lucky was burned severely. With the amount of skin area he was burned over, he was indeed lucky to have survived. He has undergone several skin grafts since then and now is near leaving the hospital. We also met and prayed with a severely malnourished boy who was 12. I don't think any of us have ever seen someone so thin in our lives. He didn't even have

the strength to put food in his mouth. Wendy was able to feed him some of his meal and he even smiled a bit. We could see Jesus in that boys face. After visiting the hospital, we realized that God can work in all kinds of places in many different people and circumstances.