Home on the Range

Verse of the day: “In all the work you are doing, work the best you can.  Work as if you are doing it for the Lord, not for people.” Colossians 3:23

Feeling at home herding cattle :-)

Today we headed out of the small towns and into real rural land--the land of cows and rolling hills! Once we were set up, it was a little bit before the patients started arriving so we were privy to watching a large local farm herd their cattle into the barn and sort out the milking cows for milking. I couldn't have felt more at home in there helping them herd and sort! :)  I even went back later to check out their milking parlor, which is not normal here, but they have one because it is such a large farm.  

Volcanic Stone Mine

Also near this area is a large volcanic stone mine (used to be a volcano—now it is a pile of rocks) where many people are doing the work by hand with sledge hammers and lifting heavy rocks in addition to what the machines are doing. There were several people that came to the clinic with back pain from there and we decided to hold a back school for them to train in lifting mechanics to protect their backs.  We had a great time with lots of laughter as they worked on getting the right form and several others that were around also joined in learning!

Teaching squatting mechanics

I have still mostly been seeing orthopedic injuries, which is right up my alley, but I am also getting to see a variety.  There was one adorable older woman who was so old she could not remember her age.  When she shook my hand she held on for a while as she tried to warm me up, haha. She later told us she used donkey butter on her back to help with her back pain!  Another young girl that I saw today was born with spina bifida and came to me in a wheelchair.  Her knees were contracted and she had braces at one time but has outgrown them.  She has never used a pediatric walker or other device for walking.  In testing her she had nerve input to enough muscles in her legs that with proper care she should be able to walk some with assistance—but will be challenging to achieve with limited medical care.  I was able to provide her with some exercises and educate the family on how to stretch her legs and assist her in standing for further strengthening.  

Llapingacho

Clowning Around

Today was the last clinic day for Bert and Sameer as they were only here 1 week so we did a little photo shoot on the way to today’s village.  Susana and I will be joined by 4 others tomorrow night for the 2nd week.  There continue to be celebrations going on in town all week so we walked over for yet another hurrah.  We saw an audience-participation-is-mandatory play involving 2 detective clowns and considering we made up more than half the audience, we all had to participate, haha.  We finished with second dinner via various street vendors and of course the local bakery!