A Whirlwind of Clinic Days

 Life on the Cambodian Road has kept us running!  Here are some updates regarding our clinic days.

July 2, 2022 - Clinic #2 Plas Prai

We made it to Preah Vehear and the Plas Prai Dorm which is part of the Gabriel’s’ ministry.  The clinic was well organized with a program for the people in the ‘waiting room’.  The Spiritual Impact Team is a group of students from the Plas Prai dorm with the goal of ministering to their community. This team introduced the day, then the students led a time of worship songs, Tinak gave the biblical message, our own team’s hygiene talk went next, a beautiful drama was put on by the teens and ended with the salvation story by Ratana.  All of these activities were overseen by our own Chelsea Cooper.  The Spiritual Impact Team also prayed with the patients over their medical and heart concerns.   Donna and Colleen were able to interact with some of the students through Google Translate, which was a great help in breaking down our communication barrier.  We will miss this as we move onto other clinics without Wi-Fi.  Kim and Annissa were involved in a session with the female dorm girls about feminine hygiene and answering their various questions. One memorable moment was when Kim got to meet the girl that she and Jay Jay sponsor, what a sweet time followed.  We saw approximately 95 patients.  In the morning, a husband and wife decided to accept Christ as their savior and later on another woman did as well.  It was a busy day and only a glimpse to what we are about to experience!

July 3, 2022 - Clinic #3 Oh Kawk

Our next stop was a village about ½ hour away from the Plas Prai dorms.  The Governor of the district came to greet us.  They were so thankful to us for coming.  They have felt forgotten and neglected so they were extremely happy that we came.  Many of the villagers dressed up to come and be treated.  The police were there as well, checking and asking to have our passports translated into Khmer.  Of course, they also took the opportunity to be seen by our medical staff.  The clinic was located on the grounds of the village school.  It only goes up to 4^th grade and that may be the only education these folks have.  The program for waiting patients was similar to yesterday with the Spiritual Impact Team taking the lead.  We enjoyed treating the various ailments presented, most common being reflux, headache and back pain. Annissa treated one of the village officials who had a burn wound. It took some time to treat, but the man left smiling. The rains did come, they didn’t last long and did not deter the work.  The children enjoyed running in the rain and the adults felt some relief from the heat if only for a short time.  We enjoyed meeting the people of the village and the children are delightful!  A 17-year-old girl decided to follow Jesus this day!!  On our way back, we were stuck in what I call a Cambodian traffic jam, cows being herded!

A side note or two:  The Cambodian business owners will only take clean, unripped US bills.  Even the smallest tear will be seen and rejected.  Laundry service is very inexpensive.  My clothing for 4 days cost all of $1.25 USD to wash, dry, fold, and package.

 

July 4, 2022 – Clinic #4 Boh Village

This is our last clinic for the trip.  While I’m sure we were all looking forward to some rest, it is bittersweet.  We have really embraced our various roles and enjoyed the Khmer people!

This trip took us about 1 ½ hours to get to the site.  The site of the clinic is where the village is building a new Buddhist temple.  We want to be praying for the plans to change and for them to transition to building a church.  The actual building for our clinic is where the people celebrate their Buddhist holidays and sacred days. The village chief came out to greet us and we actually enlisted his help in our eye glass distribution.  He was a natural at picking up phrases we needed to help the people understand how reading glasses are to be used. Once again, the Spiritual Impact Team carried out their roles beautifully.  God knew we needed Jack Wilson here!  The building we were in did have ceiling fans to keep the heat at bay.  However, many of the fans were not functioning properly.  Jack was able to step in and “McGuyver” a few of the fans so that they are working again for us.  We also had the opportunity to evaluate two Buddhist monks.  Did you know they have ice cream vendors on bicycles here in Cambodia?  What a cool, sweet treat!!  During the session before lunch, 6 people had decided to ask Jesus to be their Savior!  At lunchtime, 50 patients were seen.  We had more than 50 to go…..

After lunch of Cambodian fried chicken, our team saw approximately 72 patients in 5 hours.  The time was not without challenges as it is the rainy season and so we did experience a heavy rain.  You “just go with it” here so the people relocated to any dry area to wait their turn out of the weather.  It also stared to get dark.  This village is remote and they run extension cords from a generator to fans to cool the building.  Joel (World Team Missionary and jack of all trades) and Jack were pressed into action and began wiring up some lights so that we did not have to turn anyone away.

In summary, the clinic ran from about 9am until 7pm and we were able to see approximately 125 patients, with 6 folks finding salvation through Jesus!

The day was made complete when our missionary and Khmer friends set off some fireworks along a remote road for us on this July 4^th!