Time is Flying!

Thursday

Thursday morning I attended an outreach in another section of town. The clinic provides outreaches for women who can not afford a ride to the clinic to make their prenatals so we go to them. We met at Foursquare Church where we only had 5 clients. There are usually more but not many showed up that day. The church was interesting because it was under construction so there was scaffolding everywhere. I am not sure where anyone would stand/sit for church but apparently they still have services. The history of the Dacaudo side of town is its reputation for danger. Apparently a long time ago that part of town was so dangerous that the mayor built a gate around it and locked it at night to keep the crime in. There were serial killings and police would just clean up the bodies in the morning before opening the gate. That does not happen anymore and the crime rate has gone down tremendously in the last few years. The last mayor was a strict. He inforced a law that if you committed a crime you were sentenced to death. His daughter is now mayor and has also kept the law inforced. Many of the gangs in town have moved out to the mountains because they are afraid of being shot by police. The female mayor now apparently made world wide news for beating up a construction worker. Her and her father really are ones in favor of justice being served.

Thursday I also worked night shift. It wasn't too busy so I got quite a bit of sleep. We had a few labors but they did not deliver on my shift. I did help care for a 16 yr old girl who had probably been abused. With every contraction she was yelling and rolling around the bed uncontrollably. When a student went to do an internal exam (I.E.) she freaked out, screaming and pinching her legs together. The student told me that is a big sign that they have probably been abused and it is reminding them of the pain they once felt. 

Foursquare Gospel Church

Interviewing clients and doing health teaching

Vitals

Fetal heart rate monitor and fundal height checks

Tetanus Shots!

Friday

Friday was my day of and we were all pretty tired so it was a lazy day. A lot of napping went on in our house but after supper we gathered enough energy to watch a movie. We may have watched an hour of it before it started skipping so we just called it a night!

Saturday

Today was a long 8hr shift. There was not a lot of patients so the shift seemed to drag. We had one postpartum patient we cared for all shift and about 3 labors that came in but we sent home because they were not dilated enough or having frequent contractions. After shift I headed home to shower since I had a date....A date with Casey and Tilly of course! We went to TGI Friday and had a blast. I'm pretty sure we took pictures with every statue and security guard from the restaurant to the Jeepney ride to Jollibee to the guards outside our gate. The night was filled with smiles and laughter. I loved every minute of it!

TGI Friday Statue #1

Jeepney Ride. The jeep was so packed I had to sit on Casey's lap.

That lasted a second and the driver made these boys scoot over so we sat hip to hip.

They had a great laugh listening to us girls!

The Jollibee character and the guard.

The guard at our gated community. His name: Chua (chewa)

A few things you might find interesting... Most of the Filipino midwifes that live at the clinic are from towns far away. They work 4-5 days then go home to see their husbands or family for a few days. The clinic also supports Filipino midwifes by paying for a few chosen ones to go to school in the Philippines and then are repaid with two years of work at the clinic. This allows young women in rural parts of the Philippines, especially the mountains, to be able get an education that their family would not be able to afford.

When entering a mall or grocery store the security guards make you open your bag. All they do is check one pocket and glance at the item on top using a drum stick as a utensil. Funny guys!

Fun Fact: The three story mall was filled with people tonight. There were dancers on stage with a mascot and some pretty hip music. We were wondering what was was going on and realized they were advertising detergent. Wow! Pretty extravagant way to sell detergent but that mall was filled like it was the Mall of America! We think there was a concert afterward though.

The stage was filled with people and the upper two floors wrap around and were completely filled with bodies! I have never seen a mall so packed!

Time is flying! Today the girls had to remind me that tomorrow is Sunday so I do not work a double. I guess I didn't even know what day of the week it was! I was planning on getting up to make it to the clinic by 7:30am. I am so glad I get to catch up on some sleep. I am so surprised it is the weekend already. June is half over and I am dreading that my trip is coming to end. I am so thankful I get to stay for two months tho! Everyday has been amazing and a blessing.
Love you all!
Thanks for your support!
-Kelsey