Dr. Bob Liu and Healthy Villages

Bob Liu teaching the Barefoot Drs. about a healthy village. He had the students draw pictures in groups and then discuss potential problems.

Back to the class room

Back to the Classroom today. Dr. Nilson started off the day with a talk on TB and finished the morning with instructions on how to use a infant growth chart. He used a visual aide to show how you can simply measure weight gain with a rudimentary scale. Dr. Nilson probably would have bought the scale he found at the night market even if he couldn't have used it as a teaching aide. He collects that kind of thing but teaching baby weight made a good excuse.
In the afternoon Dr. Bob Liu began teaching on village health. He has been involved with the Barefoot Drs. program since the mid 1990's. I will try and get some pictures of him tomorrow. I had some meetings this afternoon to try and get some connections with some local hospitals, doctors, and pharmacists. I could not have even begun to set up these meetings without the help of Rita. She has been a huge help and resource. Thank you, Rita!


Dr. Bjorn Nilson using his new "treasure" to demonstrate a simple way to measure infant weight gain. He found this antique scale at the Sunday market for about $30.00 usd.

Sunday was a day of celebration more than usual. The church service was held at the training center and not the church building this week. This was to accommodate over 300 guests who came out to honor Chris and Rebecca’s wedding and to worship and fellowship as a church. It was spectacular! There was a lot of tribal dancing and singing. Many different tribes put their best foot forward in song and dance to honor the new union. About 10 different tribal peoples came together for this event; all of them Christian. The message was also very good from one of the church leaders who accompanied us up to his home village two weekends ago. Of course after church there was a lot of food and we all ate together. They actually slaughtered a pig and a cow the day before just for this occasion. We also had a prayer for Chris and Rebecca. All the church pastors and the parents of the new couple laid hands on them while the rest of us stood and prayed together, out loud, in all our native languages for this marriage.
Here is a picture of me with several of the Barefoot Doctors in their traditional costumes before church.

The Barefoot Drs gave a great singing performance in all their traditional costumes. They represent 7 different tribes this year from the farthest reaches of Burma. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do. I will keep you updated as we go.
Sawadee Krup
Rick

East meets West Wedding

It has been a fun filled weekend. We had a chance to catch up on email, paper work, and sleep Sat morning. Then at 3:00 we were picked up and taken to Chris and Rebecca Kalnin’s wedding. It was a true East meets West ceremony. We had a traditional wedding at Beverly Kalnin's home then we were transported to a resort for the reception. That is when things got interesting. The Barefoot Drs put on quite a show. They did a long dance in the traditional dress and custom of the majority of the class. I wish I had more pictures but my camera could not handle the poor lighting conditions. Then, just amazing food intermixed with some traditional American style speeches.
Chris was given leader status by this tribal people with the traditional costume, a sword, and gong. Then they had a ceremony that is traditional in Thailand where you make a blessing and hold a burning paper lamp. When the lamp paper fills with enough hot air you let it go and it floats up to the heavens. It was surreal watching what looked like Chinese lamps floating into the night sky with a crescent moon in the background. Also knowing that with each lamp a blessing had been sent. If that was not enough, then there were fireworks! You could never get away with any of this in California! You would burn the whole state down. Here it was no problem. Seriously the fireworks were so close directly overhead I thought someone was going to get burned. The best part was all the stories and to know that these are two great people that seem to truly belong together. There is no doubt in my mind they are blessed and will be a blessing to others in far greater ways then they were as individuals.

Second week of Medical done!

We have completed week two of the medical portion of the barefoot drs program. Today (Saturday) is our 1^st day off since we got here. We are looking forward to the time to catch our breath and catch up on emails and some paperwork. This afternoon we have been invited to Chris Kalnin and Rebecca Gibbs wedding at the Kalnin residence. Chris’s parents, Daniel and Beverly Kalnin, started this mission 31 yrs ago. I should be able to post some pictures tomorrow.

I spent my day in a meeting with a local doctor, a trip to the pharmacy to see what is available and how much it will cost, making some copies, and getting Toothbrushes for the village children we visited last weekend. We will be sending 30 toothbrushes to the children with written instructions for the teachers on how to instruct the kids on brushing their teeth. We should be able to give this to one of the guests at the wedding today and the kids should have them by Monday of next week.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Dr. Naga Pannala. There were a lot of pictures and goodbyes. I think she was surprised at how much of an impact the students had on her and how much you can connect with people in such a short time. The students really learned a lot from her teaching and really benefited from her presentations. She actually downloaded and presented actual heart sounds, lung sounds, and animated images of how the heart and lung work. We can only imagine what is going though the students' heads seeing advanced modern technology at work when some of them come from where they don’t have electricity!

Catching up on the past week

The Barefoot Drs. Training is going great! Yesterday we taught them CPR. Only one person in the class had ever even heard of it! They pick things up so fast and they have CPR down. Unfortunately we did not have a CPR Dummy so it is impossible to feel exactly what it is like. We are hoping next year maybe someone will be able to donate an old dummy from the USA. Another project for me today is to locate 30 toothbrushes for the village kids and training materials for the teachers to instruct the kids on how to use them properly.

It has been a very busy week and I have fallen behind on the Blog updates. So I am posting some info from last weekend at the village.

Church was great with a lot of children. We especially enjoyed seeing the kids singing in their traditional Karen outfits.

On Sunday they asked one of us to say a few words of encouragement to the villagers and I got “voluntold” as my military friends in the USA would say. Actually it was a privilege and honor to speak to them. I took examples from the Bible and tied them to health applications and being an example for your children and to the world around them. I explained to them that one of the reasons our medical team had come to the village was found in the Bible. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” We were attempting to do this but they should also follow this advice.

This is a picture of the house we stayed at, the stairs/ladder to get in, and our bedroom. The pic of the blankets on the floor is where three of the 5 of us Americans stayed. It got surprisingly cold at night in that little mountain village.

Oh ya, remember the lady a few days ago (picture below) with the black teeth? That is from years of chewing on beetle nut. It gives you a pretty strong “buzz” from what I understand.

So long for now, Rick

Equipment Given to Students!

Woo Hoo! Got the stethoscopes!!! The Barefoot Dr students are so excited and appreciative for the new equipment! Thank God everything worked out.