Ta-dah! It's been the busiest week ever, but the team was great and accomplished a ton while they were here! A brief run-down:
Thursday - arrived and went out to dinner
Thursday - arrived and went out to dinner
Friday - clinic and kids show at Garbage City
Saturday - clinic and kids show at Kiloarabawenos, speaking with women in Haram
Sunday - sightseeing in Alexandria
Monday - clinic at African Hope high school (about 120 kids and teachers)
Tuesday-Thursday - clinic at African Hope primary school (about 400 kids and teachers)
Friday - sightseeing at the pyramids
Saturday - clinic and kids show at Kiloarabawenos, speaking with women in Haram
Sunday - sightseeing in Alexandria
Monday - clinic at African Hope high school (about 120 kids and teachers)
Tuesday-Thursday - clinic at African Hope primary school (about 400 kids and teachers)
Friday - sightseeing at the pyramids
Saturday - left VERY early in the
And that was it! The women did a great job of keeping up and working long hours in the clinics. I'm sure they'll all be glad to get 8 hours of sleep again now that they're home! I'm looking forward to that too...
I would say three things about this week.
1. It's exhausting to be on call 24/7, especially when you're on call mainly as a trouble-shooter. In theory, everything was all arranged before they got here, but I'd say there were at least three or four extras that came up every day that I had to figure out. I'm now really paranoid and imagine that I hear my phone ringing when it's not. Dylan says I'll make a full recovery, in time.
2. It was definitely empowering to be leading a group. I've driven around more, taken more taxis, called more people, visited more places, etc etc. I feel much more at home in Maadi having had to tell other people where to go and having had to get around more myself. I carried around a map of Maadi all week because I never knew where I'd need to go next, but by the end of the week I didn't really need it.
3. God was definitely watching out for me/us. He kept giving me and the team energy when we should all have been dead tired. One day my phone started beeping low battery at 7am, just after we arrived at the clinic for the day, and I assumed it would die in like 10 minutes which would have been disaster. I prayed and it actually lasted until I got home that evening - and I used it all day. One day Dylan needed to bring our lunches and we didn't have a car so I prayed God would send him a good taxi, and he actually ran into one of our regular drivers, Mustafa, who was able to take him in his car. God provided an Egyptian doctor who volunteered to work with us and who was able to get medicines for many of the students. He had not had any contact with the school or church before, but when he heard what we were doing he wanted to help! Nobody got sick or lost or hurt, and everyone maintained a good attitude the whole week. I hope all short-term trips are like that!
Thanks for your prayers this week - as you can see they made a difference. Today is my first real free day since last Wednesday so I'm going to relax!
And that was it! The women did a great job of keeping up and working long hours in the clinics. I'm sure they'll all be glad to get 8 hours of sleep again now that they're home! I'm looking forward to that too...
I would say three things about this week.
1. It's exhausting to be on call 24/7, especially when you're on call mainly as a trouble-shooter. In theory, everything was all arranged before they got here, but I'd say there were at least three or four extras that came up every day that I had to figure out. I'm now really paranoid and imagine that I hear my phone ringing when it's not. Dylan says I'll make a full recovery, in time.
2. It was definitely empowering to be leading a group. I've driven around more, taken more taxis, called more people, visited more places, etc etc. I feel much more at home in Maadi having had to tell other people where to go and having had to get around more myself. I carried around a map of Maadi all week because I never knew where I'd need to go next, but by the end of the week I didn't really need it.
3. God was definitely watching out for me/us. He kept giving me and the team energy when we should all have been dead tired. One day my phone started beeping low battery at 7am, just after we arrived at the clinic for the day, and I assumed it would die in like 10 minutes which would have been disaster. I prayed and it actually lasted until I got home that evening - and I used it all day. One day Dylan needed to bring our lunches and we didn't have a car so I prayed God would send him a good taxi, and he actually ran into one of our regular drivers, Mustafa, who was able to take him in his car. God provided an Egyptian doctor who volunteered to work with us and who was able to get medicines for many of the students. He had not had any contact with the school or church before, but when he heard what we were doing he wanted to help! Nobody got sick or lost or hurt, and everyone maintained a good attitude the whole week. I hope all short-term trips are like that!
Thanks for your prayers this week - as you can see they made a difference. Today is my first real free day since last Wednesday so I'm going to relax!