A PALE PARADE

I have some time left before my hour runs out at the internet cafe so I thought I would share some less important experiences.

It seems white people are quite the novelty. In the stores the big products are soaps and lotions with extra whitening ability. This struck me as odd since at home I seem to be on the recieving end of many jokes about the pasty whiteness of my skin. The ideal at home seems to be the tanned look and here it is just the opposite. At the airport coming in a couple of Filapino kids looked at me and laughed, when I turned around they ran away. It turned into almost a game as I would try and turn around and catch them before they had a chance to stop and laugh. Whenever I walk anywhere off the base people stare, men, women and children. Walking to town this morning men were honking their horns, waving, yelling and even slowing down and driving alongside of us. I don't at all feel threatened, but I feel like I am on display in a parade for the pasty white people.
The other day we rode back to the base on this motorized trike with a basket on the side. Two girls got into the basket and I jumped on the back of the bike. As we got on and started to drive away, a bunch of men were clapping and cheering for the driver. We are pretty sure they were cheering for him because he picked up three white chicks.

OUR FIRST OUTREACH

Yesterday was our first chance to use what we have learned so far. We went to a tribal group near the mountains of Mindoro. We saw over a hundred people. Some had been walking all night to reach the clinic. While the people all seemed pretty healthy, they were all very short because of poor nutrition. The tallest man that I met wasn't even my height and the women were all less than 5 feet. You could tell by looking at their hands and feet that they worked very hard all day every day. The children looked much younger and the adults looked much older than they actually were.
Most of the people just had a cough and cold. They mainly just come to get the free vitamins. There was a few more serious patients though, one women was nearly nine months pregnant and severely anemic, but they can't afford the iron supplements. We gave her what we could but we have limited resources. The saddest thing I saw was an 11 year old boy who was blind from cataracts. They could be removed relatively easily in hospital and his sight would be nearly normal. Unfortunately the hospital is about 90km away, and the tribe does not have a vehicle. There were a couple other patients who needed to go the hospital too but the director said it was unlikely they woud go.
I couldn't believe how tough the kids were. There was a twelve year old boy whose father had cut the side of his foot with an axe. It cut nearly through the bone. They have no way of dressing wounds so he has been walking on it and working in the rice fields. We cleaned and patched him up and he didn't even flinch. There was also a five year old with a couple of badly infected wounds on his arm and foot. He laid there completely still, at home people (myself included) have cried for much lesser things.
At the end we shared the gospel with the tribe. About seven of them asked Jesus into their heart. The best was this little old granny who seemed to just fill with joy. Her big toothless grin was amazing.

DAY 3

Today we did more hands on work in class. We learned how to do a general examination and about some of the most common respiratory diseases. Marine reach is starting an orphanage and already has one baby girl. She is seven months old and has been with the director since birth. She was born extremely underweight and is still recovering. We were able to do an examination on her, which made the information easier to grasp after doing it on a live patient. Our first outreach will be to a tribe just north of where we are staying. It will be a one day thing on friday.

Yesterday we did a Bible study in the village. First we just went and started singing childrens songs until everybody came out. Even the adults were doing the actions. It was so much fun. I started out with the high school students but after they finished I went and played with the kids. I have never been so entertained with jump rope. I was surprised how much english the little guys knew. The were eager to know all our names, ages and where we were from. They asked questions non-stop. They even tried to teach us some tagalog, but we couldn't pronounce anything correctly. When we were leaving we got them all into one big group hug, which ended in us lying in the dirt laughing. It's the first time I've seen these people, we could barely speak to each other but I feel like I've known them forever. I can't wait until next tuesday to see them all together again.

I tried to post pictures but it's not working. Hopefully I'll figure it out next time.

It's a good thing I like rice, because we eat it every meal, with the exception of a few breakfasts. The food has been really good but I can't wait until I can have a steak again. Speaking of food, I better get to supper. Hope everyone is doing alright where they are.

DAY ONE

We just finished our first day of class and are now in Calapan checking out the city. I just bought 1kg of the best mangos in the world for only about 90 cents. Everything is so cheap here it's unbelievable and a good thing because I have no money.
Class was really good, the couple teaching is from the UK so it is sometimes hard to understand with their accent. But they are amazing and so passionate about using medicine to serve the Lord. I can't wait to start our first outreach, we have a very dynamic team. It will be great!
But at the same time, we are struggling a bit to come together as a unified body. We vary greatly in age and theological backgrounds. We all love Jesus, but come from such different backgrounds that we are having a hard time finding common ground. Please pray for unity, I know it will come but we don't have much time here so the sooner the better.

GOD'S SENSE OF HUMOUR

I was just reading my friend's blog and was reminded of how emotional moments seem to always have a laugh attached to them. When I was saying goodbye to Jenn and Kim in the coffe shop parking lot it was pretty emotional, because we are all going different directions in life. So there was definitely some tears. Not long after the tears started coming did we turn to see a man relieving himself while his girlfriend waited in the car. What a beautiful moment. Even now as I read emails and blogs I'm starting to tear up. But I am also trying my hardest not to laugh as a really horrible Filipino singer is singing the backtstreet boys. No word of a lie!
God definitely has a sense of humor.