MEDCAP 2: Day 5

We got up at 0530 for 0630 muster to start seeing patients at 0700. Before we mustered, I sat on the steps while Sam and I shared one of the avocadoes we received last night. It was perfectly ripe and fresh and creamy! As I sat there trying to enjoy my breakfast, I couldn’t help but notice that I was already sweating profusely and I knew then that it would be a long day. However, shortly after muster, our interpreters arrived with lots of yummy snacks and it made me smile at their kindness. We have definitely been blessed with some amazing translators. They brought cakes, cookies, more mini bananas, banana chips, and “mocktails.” It definitely brightened my day!

We immediately starting to get patients flowing through and our last treatment day began. I got a lunch break around 1130 for about 40 minutes. Otherwise, we went straight through from 0700-1900. There was a point around 1500 when we had to stop filling prescriptions and do a full inventory of our remaining supplies per the OIC (Officer In Charge). We were closed for about 30 minutes. By the time we were back up and running, we had a room full of people waiting and a large stack of prescriptions waiting to be filled. It was like this for the rest of the day! Dental had stopped taking patients around 1100 due to lack of lidocaine needed to perform procedures and sent some people over to help us out. We got a volunteer to help us fill and once we got an extra person, things seemed to flow much better.  Dr. Bemiller even came over after seeing her last patient to help us finish up. It was definitely a group effort and I’m so lucky to have had the chance to work with such amazing people. Without a group effort, the day could have possibly ended pretty miserably. After we finished filling our last prescription, I went and sat on the steps outside of the pharmacy, as usual, to reflect upon the day.  And again, there were some of our troops playing basketball with the kids. It amazed me that no matter how hot or how long of a day we had, they would still play with them.

As patients slowly filtered out, equipment and more people came in. They began to set up speakers for our piesta (festival)! As we sat and watched, our interpreters brought out the ‘mocktails’ and we sat there together reflecting on the week and playing some games. The drink was of course non-alcoholic and made with young papaya and juice. As the crowd grew, the local officials began a ceremony with out OICs in which they exchanged kind words and gifts. When they were finished, they invited everyone to dance. It took a few minutes until the local governor took initiative and started a congo line in which he, as the leader, would start a dance move that everyone else had to copy. It was pretty hilarious since us Americans are so tall compared to most of the Indonesians. I sat and watched everyone just taking it all in. About half-way thought the dance, a young man came up to me and asked why I wasn’t dancing. He may have asked me to dance as well but I wasn’t sure since his English wasn’t very clear. I told him politely that I was perfectly content to watch and dancing wasn’t my thing. He sat down next to me and we sat in silence watching everyone else. Slowly people began to leave the dance area as the music transitioned to a new song. The young man excused himself to catch up to one of his buddies. About 20 minutes later the music stopped, people starting leaving, and we began to clean. As I got up to get my things together and get ready for bed, one of the translators stopped me and another girl on the MEDCAP explaining that these 2 young men wanted to trade mementos. We both stood there slightly taken off guard, frantically trying to think of something to give them. The interpreter said even an American dollar would be cool to give them and I thought, prefect! So I went to get my wallet and met back with my friend, the 2 guys, and the translator a few minutes later. The first guy handed my friend a glow-in-the-dark beaded rosary which was really cool! The guy I traded with gave me a heavy metal necklace with his name engraved on the dog tag. I told the interpreter that I couldn’t accept this gift! He relayed the message to the young man and he was insistent that I keep it as a memento and thanking me for the American dollar. I was extremely flattered and shocked that he was so willing to give such a personal item to me for just $1! We said our goodbyes and took a picture since it was already 2200. We mustered shortly after that and were told to be up by 0415 to start packing up our gear since the helos would be arriving around 0600. I therefore hit the rack immediately after the meeting.