Small Wounds

It's funny, we plan these small wounds clinics and it never ends up being about the small wounds. Haha. Today we had a small wounds clinic in Namatala at Teacher Sarah's house. We had plenty of children with boo boos show up and we were able to help them, but we also had many other people that came looking for help. We had parents telling us their children had malaria and asking for help. Unfortunately we don't have malaria medication and money doesn't grow on trees. We also had parents and grandparents complaining of their eyes hurting. We had simple eye drops that we could hand out but that isn't going to solve the long term problem. I had a mama that brought me her baby and showed me some gooey looking stuff around the neck and around her bottom. Of course we had NO CLUE what to do so I held the baby for a while, we tried to clean her up some and then Becky decided to put baby powder on her because it looked sort of like a rash or something. We tried telling the mom to see a doctor but that won't happen if she doesn't have the money. After the crowd of children disappeared we decided to move to a different location in Namatala. We moved to Mama Sarah's house and set up in the back of the van. Most of the team walked around trying to let people know we were there but strangely it was pretty quiet in Namatala today. I went to get Chede and take pictures of her and Ana so that I could get some advice on how to help them. We got to their hut and their "dad" said, "where have you been these past few days?" in a somewhat harsh tone. So I explained as best as I could that I had hives and wasn't able to come out but now I am better so I am here. His tone changed and he said "oh, sorry sorry." and then grabbed Chede and Ana and told me that they both had been throwing up and coughing all night for the past few days. My heart breaks every time he tells me things like that. I want to help so badly but I just don't know what to do. And as always, money doesn't grow on trees. Not even for Mzungus. Oh how I wish it did, or would, just for a short time so that I could help my babies!!! I took pictures and then took Chede, Ana, and Maria with me and we headed back to the van. When we got to the van we saw Kady (who seems to like Ana quite a bit :-) who wouldn't?!) and decided to put a diaper on her so that she could hold her without getting peed on. Haha. When I put her down on the seat of the van I felt something hard hit my hand. I thought maybe I had hit her tailbone or something but it was awfully bony. I looked at her bottom to see if it looked strange and it didn't. I felt her tailbone area and it definitely wasn't what I hit. I was moving my hand to put the diaper on her and noticed it again. This time I found it. She has a lump about the size of a silver dollar on her left bottom cheek. You can't see it much from the outside but when you feel her bottom it is very hard and pretty big. I have no clue what it is or how she got it but I definitely don't like it. These children need help. I want to help them. It's killing me. The hardest part is knowing that even if I fed them now it would go back to how it was when I leave, if I took them to the doctor now they would get sick again after I leave. What do I do?! I wish God would just come down and hand me a piece of paper with clear instructions on exactly what steps to take with this family. Then I could actually DO something instead of just stand by and watch these girls get more and more sick. I know I keep asking for prayers about this but I need an ARMY of prayers at this point. It is taking all I have to not just sweep them up into my arms and carry them all the way to a hospital for help. I know that isn't the wise thing to do at this point, I just don't know what is. If I took them I would be responsible for the payment, which could be very small or could be way over my head. I feel stuck in the most awful place ever and it is really wearing me down. Pray please. It's all I know to do at this point.
Tomorrow we will have another small wounds clinic and another eventful day I'm sure :-). More to come!