Warning...A few pictures are a bit graphic.

Clinic Day. 

Today I spent most of my day in the clinic with Nurse Tom and Nurse Betty. It's in this room, during these times, that I really realize how much pain these children are in. It's so easy to forget that they have severe medical issues going on. During the day their bandages cover their wounds, their pant legs are pulled down, they are running around, and laughing. But inside that room.. the bandages come off, the smiles disappear, and the pain becomes real. Children have wounds where their bones are exposed, they have ulcers that take up their entire knees, they have burns down their whole legs, pins stuck in their legs holding bones together, legs amputated, stitches down their sides, club feet, bowed legs, knocked knees, etc.

Through their dressing changes for their wounds you can see the pain in their face. The stinging feeling of the alcohol cleaning their wounds, the forceps entering in their open wounds to clean the insides, the twisting of the fixators in order to clean around the wound. But you rarely hear a cry. You rarely hear a complaint. They do this without pain killers. Without any numbing. It is amazing how tough these kids are inside that dressing room. It makes me think about how I cry when I have to get a splinter taken out of my finger. These kids tough it out because they see how blessed they are.

We have literally seen the lame walk again. We have see horrendous wounds be healed. We have seen incredible molding of bones in order to correct club feet. God has definitely blessed Acheru with a team comprised of many gifts. We see his miracles daily in the lives of these kids. 

I am learning so much about the medical side of Acheru. Today I even got to help cast a child with club foot! I've helped the nurses clean up after wounds . I'm going to the surgery hospital at some point. It really amazes me everyday. I even sat with the caregivers and made home-made cotton balls (which…if any of you know how I feel about cotton balls…they give me the heebie-jeebies).

Soon I will probably begin working with the teacher more regularly. Right now the Irish family who is here for two weeks, the mother has been working with Juliette. During this time I was able to do more observing and see medically how Acheru works. I can definitely say with confidence that the medical side is not my gift and I respect Nurse Betty, Nurse Tom, and Johnson very much for what they do daily. 

                                                     A few smiling faces ready for school.

                               A new wound. This boy had osteomylitis (the infection of the bone that weakens bones). They had to open his leg, scrap the dead bone out. This thing on his leg is called a fixator. It helps keep the bones in place.

Tom working on Moses.

                                                                              Homemade Cotton Balls!

  This is Kevin. She was burned on her left leg. It caused a contracture in her knee. She could not bend her leg and it was causing one leg to be longer than the other. They placed this contractor on her leg to extend the leg so the bones may continue to grow.