Two-Dollar Dental Work at a Mobile Medical Clinic

As a kid, I would watch as my dentist sterilized his instrument on a small Bunsen burner before proceeding on my filling. No reclining chair, no humor and certainly no laughing gas. Those were dental visits from the history books.

Eventually he moved into pre-retirement, spending more time grooming his yard and flower gardens with his wife. With this, he suggested that Mom seek a new dentist for me and my siblings. (Mom obliged by taking herself and Dad to a new dentist along with us kids.)

Was it that cut-the-kids ruling (I learned of it decades later) that prompted my own desire for kids to wait outside the medical caravan truck? I don't know, but as I watched, I wondered when the ax would come from Dr. Reinaldo:

"Afuera por favor." (Wait outside please.)

As he worked on mouth after mouth, the verbal "boot" never was uttered, not even under his breath. Even the returning 5-year-old, Andres, did not warrant a reproof. Instead, Reinaldo put himself on a first-name basis with the boy and conversed with him.

One girl stood and watch as Mom was attended to. Little Natalia came in unaccompanied, boldly acquanting herself with Reinaldo . . . until she was actually in the chair.

Cleanings took the longest; extractions were quickest. Extraction, filling, or profilaxis cost $2. The biggest currency that was pressed into my hand was a $10 bill, and by then I had enough in the coffee cup to make change. Part of the joy of this job was giving a Gospel of John to people as they left.

Most had just one procedure. But Edison, a young man with hand-drawn tattoos on his arms (yeah, I still notice) had two extractions one afternoon, then returned for another pulling the next day. Another man's smile revealed decorative gold framing his front teeth -- the handiwork of an earlier dentist elsewhere.

Reinaldo also did a few consults and charged the patients nothing for those. Beginning at 10 a.m., we saw 21 patients by 4 p.m. that day, then we, the two docs, and Ian packed up everything and backed the caravan off of the blocks.

Jofre moved the caravan to a new location nearby.

There were likely kids there too. And plenty of dental and medical needs.

Another dental diary is here.

The Need To Read

Kathy writes:

I have read several books in the past few months.

One was Peace like a River, the Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.

The Midwestern family in this novel has miracles happen every few months.
It has me thinking about what kind of things our kids will remeber from their
childhood. Are Ralph and I reminding them often enough of the LORD's
miracles we have witnessed?

Another was One Flew over the Cookoo's Nest. Painful reading at times, knowing the tragic ending to come. Yet, I couldn't put it down.

Laurie Halse Anderson's historical fiction work, Fever 1793, was another one that had me hooked from beginning to end.

Phillip Yancey's I Was Just Wondering is the one that currently has my attention.
I read a long time each night before bed, while the supper is cooking, and
any other time I can catch a few minutes.

After explaining to students their assignments, I have been able to read
quite a bit while substitute teaching.

Various times the students would ask me about the book I was reading.
I was saddened to learn that so many of the kids never read, or only read
what they absolutely have to for a passing grade.

In the 8th grade English class, the kids had two months to read Johnny
Tremain. The day I had to sub was the 100 question test over that book. Many
of them complained as I was handing it out. "But I'm not ready"- "But I
didn't read it after the first 5 pages", etc.Some even joked about it and
seemed proud that they had not read it.

Reading is one of my absolute favorite things to do. I started reading aloud
to our kids when they were infants. I thank God that they all enjoy reading
for pleasure now. We have enough books in our home to start a library. When
I think of the books that I have read just in April, and all the things I
have learned, and how I have been challenged and encouraged in my walk with
Christ, I am overwhelmed.

To think that so many of the students I work with every day are missing out on one of life's greatest pleasures saddens me.

I have decided that talking about my current read is going to be a regular
part of my "good morning, class. Mr. So-and-So is ill today" speech.

It's my small way of trying to get the IM/Facebook generation back into books!

Vehicle Inspection

More info (in Spanish) is here.


Check emission gasses.

Sure hope the Jeep passes.


Seven-thirty was late.
So a two-hour wait.

My second time around.
Where vendors abound.




The vehicle now inspected.
Few(er) problems detected.


Yes!
It passed the inspection at last.



Finally!

Success!





but . . . . vehicle registration is next.

When People Go Away . . .

"Why does everyone want to go away? I love being home," was Beth March's query to her sister, Jo, in the movie "Little Women." The phrase has been on my mind with the departures from our community in recent months. We have shared sad news of a deportation, a drowning, and other deaths. These are not people who wanted to go away; circumstances simply took them.

We move ahead but the emotional burden adds up. One begins to feel the weight of mortality; the shoulders sag a bit.

First chair in the saxaphone section was vacant (see video clip). Kay had played earlier, but now was off bidding good-bye to classmates. Her visa difficulties had prompted this parting. Rob's send-off message encouraged listeners to Carpe Aeternitatem or Seize Eternity (this clip is even shorter.)

In the wider community, we lost three members of a family to a car crash over the Carnival weekend. And so, just weeks after Kay's special graduation, the chapel filled again for a memorial service for Emilio and Ana and their young son, Asaf.

These were people who seized eternity; they lived with a view to eternity. Amid the routine, there was a reasoned response to Jesus' claim that "he who loses his life for My sake, will find it." They lost themselves in something bigger (SomeONE bigger) than their own existence and so the tragedy of that weekend served as mere transition. Their eternity looks different to them now . . . but we don't know just how different it looks. They apparently saw it clearly before, even if "through a glass darkly."

Not long from now, a few dozen more will leave us for far flung places of the planet. No matter how the commencement speaker challenges these young people, I hope there has been, is and will continue to be an underlying theme of their years with us: Carpe Aeternitatem. Seize Eternity.

Russians Are Coming? No, Not Really

It will just never work to falsely report that your country is being invaded.

Afterthought attempts at damage control will see only limited success. Your media outlet will face angry accusations decrying that the independent media (pro-gov, anti-gov - no matter) is irresponsible.

A recent example occurred in the republic of Georgia, where an Imedi TV broadcast showed images of what could happen if the Russians invaded. The director of Imedi Media Holding, Giorgi Arveladze, at once apologized for, and rationalized, the controversial broadcast.

"We wanted to show something that we never want to happen," he said. As I watched, I noticed no disclaimer across the bottom of the screen.

Possible misinterpretations?

A true event.

Or perhaps nationalistic fervor overriding journalistic integrity.

Or maybe political opportunism on the part of the instigators.

Entertainment (ever growing as news content) also plays into such coverage. History shows that the martian invasion fantasy of New Jersey prompted public panic in the 1938 radio version of The War of the Worlds (reprises in Chile in the mid 40s and in Ecuador --with reprisals -- in 1949).

Re-broadcasts can even go awry. One month after and again one year after horrifying tornadoes whipped through Louisville, KY, WHAS radio attempted to rebroadcast audio describing funnel clouds that dropped down for devastating results. On both occasions, public panic prompted the coverage (which was to later win multiple journalism awards for WHAS) had to be pulled from the broadcast.

We could all learn a lesson from Georgia (in Euro Asia), but just watch. We will do it again.

Very soon in fact, we will do it again . . . as some fools stage an April Fool's Day "newscast" that will indeed fool those who still trust the media.

Surgeons Volunteer Time, Talents for Kids

Around a table are people from Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and the U.S.

But it’s not for a conference. These are friends who’ve come to Quito, Ecuador. And they’re not sharing a meal together either. Laughter, stories and food will come later—after the work is done.

Instead, they’ve gathered around a young patient on the operating table, just as this team of surgical specialists did a year earlier, and the year before that.

“They do it because of their friendship and because it’s interesting,” said Dr. Eckehart Wolff of HCJB Global Hands.

In the operating room at Hospital Vozandes-Quito, he takes a few moments to answer this reporter’s questions before hustling off to assist with another surgery. “They’re all specialists,” he said, “teaching at universities in their countries.”

Different techniques are considered as each team member brings something to the table. “We have learned a lot, especially from the Colombians,” said Wolff, a German physician who has served in Ecuador with his wife, Klaudia, since 1989.

Months before the arrival of each international surgical team, led by 71-year-old surgeon Dr. Jim Gage, Wolff does much of the preparation work. He studies the cases of several dozen Ecuadorian and Peruvian children whose mobility has been severely curtailed by cerebral palsy or other maladies and injuries.

Then in the months after the team leaves, Wolff watches the miracles of mobility occur during his follow-up care of the children. On the most recent trip in January, team members operated on 34 needy children.

(Story and video segment by Ralph)

Dental Assistant for a Day

Some instructions on sterilization
After an hour's drive, I'd say
sees us receiving our first patient by ten
I am dental assistant for a day

Scrub and sterilize instruments for re-use,
disposing of needles with care.
Set up Dr. Monica with all of the tools
before the next patient climbs into the chair

Receptionist, cashier, supplies

--all part of the job as well

One of the names stumps me

a name la doctora helps me spell

Both doctors meanwhile, see oodles of kids

whose parents had brought them around

to find good care and the gospel

when the medical caravan has come to town.