Screening day!

The day started for me at 3:30 am; the alarm goes off and I think to myself it can't be the time already! I look at my clock and sure enough it is time to get up and start the day, and what a day it was!!!!!

The first team gets into the landrovers at 4:15am and all in convoy we head to the National Stadium. It's still dark outside so we cannot get a good view of the people waiting in line. We get dropped off and get into our teams. I am in the escorting team (will explain later what this means!!). It's only a small team at the moment as the next wave of landrovers will have most of our team. As I had been to the stadium the day before to set up I knew the route the people would take to be registered and seen by the doctors so I hang back to make sure the escort team was all together. After the tour of the stadium and the set up of the day I take the team I am allocated to registration and history areas. We were here to escort the patients who had been through pre-screening and were waiting to see the doctor to see if they would have the surgery they so needed. The registration area was to take their details, such as their names, address and telephone numbers. From here they are given their papers that show what surgery they are going to be screened for, such as goiters, general surgery; this is mainly hernia's, burn contractures and other plastic surgeries, max fax; this includes cleft lip and palates.

Being in this station of registration meant I could see the people who had been told there may be a possibility of them having the surgery that some had been waiting for years to have. You could see the hope in their eyes at the thought that they may have it done. They varied in all ages, from babies only months old with cleft lip's and palates, to elderly men and women who needed a hand to take them across from registration to the history area were they have a set of vital signs done and a quick medical history. From there they are taken to the appropriate areas where the Doctor's are waiting to see them and make a final decision if they are able to have the surgery on the Africa Mercy.

Throughout the day I am able to have cuddles with some of the babies and what cuties they are!! Laugh with some of the people waiting in line, more like them laughing at me trying to speak French!!!

Helping the people across to the next area was such a pleasure to do, even though it was very tiring especially as the sun was beaming down hard and the sweat was coming down my back. I was still thankful that I could be there and experience this; the hope we were giving to so many people. Around 3,500 peopel came to the stadium looking for help, 1,600 of them were given appointments to come to the ship to have their surgeries or have further follow up. This means that a lot of people were told 'no' - this was the worst bit; knowing so many could not be helped by us. If they were told no they were taken to the prayer area. This was an opportunity for them to be prayed over.
The last few people went through our section at 3 pm. By this time my feet were aching, but it was great to see them through. I can't wait now to see some of them return to the ship and be able to look after them on the ward.
At the end of the day when I got back to my cabin I thought things through. I had mixed emotions; an amazing feeling of being able to help and give people hope but also upset at the thought of the people who we were not able to help.

Thank you all who prayed for this day, it went very smoothly. They had problems last year at the Sierra Leone screening so many were apprehensive about this one, but God was in control and it went well.   

I will post more pictures of the day as they come out, so watch this space......