Busybodies Are We!

As the days go by, we keep ourselves quite busy up here in Santiago. Between the morning visitations and the night classes, we barely have a moment to relax. But it always seems worth it at the end of the day.

Every morning we head out to the different Purok's and every day there are more interesting cases. Before we had arrived, Wendy found a family with a baby girl that had rashes all over her body. 

A big rash on the back of her neck.

They had no idea what caused the rash, she had just developed it over the course of a couple weeks. Today, Wendy decided that she would try out some natural remedies, that she learned from the L.I.G.H.T. classes, and do a charcoal treatment on the rashes. We said a prayer for the baby and then taught the mother how to do charcoal poultices so that she could continue them daily. We'll see how it turns out in a couple days.

Besides the patients with specific cases, we took a lot of blood pressures. Many people in the poor areas have very high blood pressure. It may have something to do with their lack of vegetables and their intake of numerous packaged foods (such as ramen, chips, candy) and white rice. We do a lot of health talks with every family and tell them that they need to decrease their salt intake. They're very receptive to the information, whether they'll follow the tips or not, however, is the question.

Sofia, one of the L.I.G.H.T. missionaries, takes the B.P. of an elderly woman.

We were usually done with visitations around 11:30 and we fill our time between the meetings by running errands with Wendy around town. We were able to visit the market today and I was so excited! On the island of Palawan, there are VERY few 'American Vegetables'. Carrots and Potatoes are available but are very expensive and they have no Cauliflower, Lettuce, or Broccoli....so for people like me who LOVE Broccoli, thats very depressing. :( 

But up here in Santiago, they grow all of these vegetables and more! Also, because we're closer to other countries, they get a lot of good IMPORTED products, such as: Soymilk, Applesauce, Whole Wheat Bread, Corn Flakes, and many other delicious foods that you can only dream about in Palawan. Shielah and Tanya requested that we bring back numerous fresh vegetables. So many, in fact, that we made sure to bring a lot of clothes that we could leave here in Santiago, so that our suitcases would be empty and available to bring more :)
Around 4:30pm, we head out to the L.I.G.H.T. classes. We're currently learning about Nutrition, Ministry of Healing, and Hydrotherapy. In hydrotherapy class, we're learning about Fomentations to the chest. This is where the patients keep their feet in a Hot Foot Bath and have Hot pads put on their chest and back. The classes are pretty fun and the teachers are really good at explaining their subjects.
We have really been enjoying our time here in Santiago. Though, we may regret saying this at the end, we really enjoy the busy days. It keeps us on our toes and we meet a lot of interesting people. But we have 2 more weeks to go, lets see if our tune has changed by then ;)


"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
~Ephesians 5:15-17