Day 7

Today I did the morning shift at the Ampil Health Clinic. I was shadowing the nurses with another girl in my group to see how many people came in, what they came in for and how they were treated. We only saw 3 patients in the 3 hours I was there, including the kid who fainted yesterday at the dental clinic that was still being monitored but is doing much better. There were a bunch of children there that we gave stuffed animals to. Once there were no more patients, I gave soap and toothbrushes to the mother in the postpartum room and her family as well as passed out toothbrushes to other people hanging around the clinic. Then we worked on the toothbrush holders that were made for the school. We put tape on each slot so that the kid's name will be on it and they can have a place to keep their toothbrush at school. There were several children from the village hanging around the clinic so we ripped pages out of coloring books and passed them out with crayons and stickers. They all sat on the floor coloring for almost an hour and really enjoyed it. The youngest boy that was there wasn't interested in coloring so I played trucks with him and he kept saying, "vroom". It was a really nice first half of the day! Even though it didn't seem like much, these kids hardly get individual attention so I know it really meant a lot to them.

Then we were invited to visit one of the teacher's home. This teacher is so amazing! She is teaching herself to read and write English and also teaches a literacy class on Sundays. She is very driven to help her community and is very proactive. She has a nice home in the village and her mother lives with her. Her mother has a shaved head because she is a widow. We learned that older women chew on something called beetle nuts and leaves which is a mild narcotic. It makes their mouth red and is addictive. The older men smoke cigarettes. The teacher had coconuts picked and ready for us with straws. The coconut water was pretty good (much better than Zico). Then they cut them open and we ate some of the inner white part of the coconut.

After lunch, I did the PM shift at the Ta Pang school that we were at yesterday. We performed more head-to-toe assessments today on the 7th graders. They speak a little English so it was nice to be able to communicate a bit. We are learning some basic phrases in Khmer.

We had dinner at The Nest which is a really nice restaurant. I called in an early night because we have to be ready to go by 6:30am tomorrow plus my roommate is really sick so I wanted to make sure she was okay. We have the opportunity to donate blood on Saturday for children with Dengue fever. I really want to but I'm feeling a little nervous about it even though I've already been to the hospital and it is very safe. I hope that I am able to go through with it and that someone else will do it with me.

Love you all! xoxo

P.S. Sorry this post took so long, wifi was down last night.