Pre-surgical screenings...a mind-blowing experience!

So just a week ago I got my first real mind-blowing vision of what we're all about and why we're here. I could truly sit in a classroom for my whole life and it would mean nothing. But just a few hours in the surgical pre-screenings and I am floored. I'm still trying to process the whole thing...even coming in with experiences from living in Indonesia this was a lot to deal with. We left the ship at 0630: I was a part of the medical branch of the surgical pre-screening team. Our goal was to screen for patients with facial tumors that could be surgically treated, and children under 15 with correctible ortho problems. Narrow window, I know, but those are the surgeons we have here currently.

As I have very little experience with Mercy Ships, African medicine, and what we can surgically treat, I was with one other nurse assigned to the "gate", where we were instructed to let through those who were possible surgical candidates, send eye and dental patients to the appropriate Mercy Ships clinics, hand out information about future screenings, and turn away those who were not surgical candidates (refer to local doctors or hospitals). NOT an easy job, to say the least. Expecting about 200-400 people as reported from the first 2 days of screenings, we showed up at 0700 to find approximately 1000 waiting, filling the courtyard with a line stretching around the block and quite a ways down the road.

As my translator and I started speaking with the people at the gate, we were quickly surrounded by a surge of desperate people, who pointed to eyes clouded with cataracts, fist-sized goiters, and huge disfiguring tumors. I saw people with malaria, fibromyalgia, urinary issues, high blood pressure...when I asked my translator he told me that the Togo national radio had (mistakenly) announced that our ship not only had arrived, but that we were also able to cure any medical problem. As the press of people increased and those around us began shouting, we were instructed to pull back into the compound and wait for more security from the ship. We then were able to screen those inside in a more orderly fashion.

Quite honestly, what I saw that day broke my heart. I had to turn away people who desperately needed medical attention, because of sheer volume or nature of the illness. Most of the people I turned away, apologized to and blessed, always had a smile and merci or God bless you for me and my translator as well. At the end of the morning I sat down for a drink and rest. A solemn brown toddler from the surgical candidates line wandered over to me on crooked little legs and happily sat in my lap playing for 15 minutes while mom looked on and smiled. There is so much that can be done for these people and so few of us...Lord send laborers to the harvest!!