We are coming into our final days of surgery, hoping to keep ahead of schedule so we can add one or two more patients. We are thinking of the patients that we have already helped, wondering how much better life for them will be. For some, their speech will be improved, and for others, hearing will be improved; going to school will be a much better experience for them. The older patients will have more doors opened to them for jobs, relationships, and maybe even school.
Walking through the ward greeting everyone, you can see the difference in their attitudes already. Even though they a sore and tired, as I walk up to each bed, a small hand comes to mine with a smile. The stranger I was, has changed to a friend. It’s hard for me to remove my hand from theirs, but I want to have time with everyone. I got a chance yesterday to talk to Paula, our ward coordinator, and she spoke of past missions and this one. Her eyes lit up as she spoke like it was today that she had the experience…Paula is here for the children — I could see it in her eyes as she took her handy bubble machine and filled the ward with bubbles. Within a few minutes you could hear laughter as the children tried to pop them. Even the older kids and adults were drawn to the activities.