Halfway point

5/31/10
From Molly:
So we are about half way done here in Zambia, hard to believe it has been 6 weeks already! These past two weeks, Paula, my friend who is also a nurse, came to volunteer. She and I did health assessments for 95 children! It was a busy time. About 75% of the childrens' guardians came along in support of the children. Some had only one parent left, and some neither and were living with either grandmother, aunt or another relative. Only a very small handful of the kids (maybe only about 5-8 kids?) had both parents alive. Apparantly, preventative health is not something that Zambian children are accustomed to, so parents were pretty excited about the event. Common findlings among the children included recent malaria, ringworm, other skin rashes and infections, scabies, abdominal protrusion (maybe due to diet, worms, or malaria), abdominal pain, frequent diarrhea, lack of breakfast or sometimes dinner, lack of good shoes or shoes at all, and tartar or dental cavities. So I've been told that some of the follow up will happen at the local clinic. It is a very basic run clinic with not too much more than medications for various things such as malaria, HIV or other infections, blood testing for malaria and HIV, and some mother/baby health. Not 100% sure how all of the follow up is going to happen at this point and what resources are available. So pray that follow up and resources are more than adequate.