Medical Team - Last Day

From Nelson family's blog:

The medical clinic was open for a 1/2 day today, but it was a tough few hours. We saw some patients who didn’t get seen on the prior days and a very special group of girls (who Catalyst supports in the scholarship program) who had suffered sexual and physical abuse. We hadn’t used even close to all the fluoride treatments so we started the day by treating kids whose families didn’t get numbers to be seen that day. It’s not much, but at least their teeth have a bit more protection. Each day has ended with having to turn people away, but today being the last day it was so much more difficult. I can’t explain the emotion of having to deny someone even the most basic of medical care. You so want to take just one more, but there is never just one more and where do you draw the line. Yesterday there was a father who came with his two young boys, barefoot and unbathed, asking for help for his son who had been having stomach pains for days. As a parent, I cannot fathom how he must have felt to arrive too late.

After the clinic closed and the construction work was done, the medical and building teams visited the dump. It was the most humbling experience of my life. Here are a few more photos. The baby in the photo was brought to the clinic yesterday – he is 3 months old, but was born 2 months premature. To see him the next day in the dump was heartbreaking. The fact that he is alive shows that his family is doing absolutely everything they can for this child under the worst possible circumstances.

It’s hard not to question whether the work we have done will have enough of an impact in light of all that is left undone. I thought a lot about that on the drive back to the hotel. The only way I can reconcile at this point is to focus on what was accomplished. Approaching such poverty requires empathy with action and without judgment.