kinneychronicles

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

May 2012

Just when we think that things will get easier, that we’ve got everything under control, something else happens reminding us that we are not the ones in control, God is. We are feeling pretty tired because we have had inpatients for most of the month of April and May. Getting up in the middle of the night to give meds wears you down pretty quickly. Most of the patients have had typhoid but we have had some cases of pneumonia as well. One older lady was carried to our clinic. She had been sick for a long time and had called all her children to her house because she thought she was about to die. Eventually someone convinced her to come to the clinic. She actually recovered fairly quickly and when she realized that she wasn’t going to die, she was full of gratitude. She was hugging us and telling us that we were her children now. We were a little embarrassed and surprised too. Most people who come to the clinic seem indifferent. A lot of the time we have to convince them to take medicine or they are angry because we want them to take medicine and they don’t want to because it’s bitter. We’ve tried all sorts of tricks for getting children to take medicine and hiding the medicine in crunchy peanut butter on a cracker seems to work the best. Anyway, it was nice to have someone say thank you when we were so tired. With everything going on here, we just have to lean on God’s strength and not our own. And while it is challenging, we can see how God is growing our faith and trust in Him.

We also had our 1^st patient die. While we have heard reports of deaths in different villages, this was the first patient that we were involved with. A family came with three children and all were very sick. They had been sick for two weeks already and were just now coming for help. Chris assessed them and got clearance to send them all to the hospital in the lowlands. They were too sick for the care we could give them in the clinic, so we arranged for them to be carried out. Unfortunately, the oldest girl died on the way down. Because the others still needed to go to the hospital, one of the missionaries brought the body back to our clinic and the church members buried her the next morning. It was weird because there was no funeral, not even a family member there to say goodbye. I’m still struggling with that a little bit, thinking of how different a funeral would be in the states. But the good news is that this little girl has hope. The next thing she sees will be Jesus Christ coming to take her home to live with Him for eternity.

Other than working in the clinic, in my spare time I’ve still been helping with farming. For some reason I thought that once the rice was planted, the hard part was done. But that’s not the case. Once the rice starts growing, the weeds start growing too. So we have to go through the field and pull them up. I have discovered that I really like weeding. Maybe it’s because I can see the results of my hard work instantly. I was weeding the other day and I had a thought. The farm is like our life and the rice is like the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.). When we spend time with Jesus every day, it is like letting Jesus work on the farm of our life. He wants to plant these good things in our life. But the weeds are like sin, selfishness springing up everywhere trying to choke out all the fruit. It is not possible to grow rice with the weeds, it won’t produce any fruit. Also, this weeding process is continual. I can’t go and weed a whole farm in a few hours. Maybe I’ll finish a little section, but to keep up with the weeds I have to spend time weeding every day. It is the same with spending time with Jesus. If we only spend time with him once in a while, the weeds get thicker and choke out our spiritual life. Only by allowing Jesus to work in our life, by spending time with Him every day, can our lives produce fruit.

We appreciate everyone who is praying for us. It really makes a difference! Thank you!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

AFM poster

Monday, May 14, 2012

April 6, 2012

A few people have asked about the outreach we are doing in Lep Lep. It is still going strong. We actually go to three different villages near Lep Lep because everyone moved after the Cholera epidemic and no one lives there anymore. It is exciting to see the growth of our high school students as they give Bible studies and to see the interest of the families.

The past few days we have been in the lowlands meeting the Georges and working on team dynamics and communication. One day we did a cultural study comparing the cultural values of Philippinos, Palawanos, and Americans. It was so interesting to see the things we have in common as well as realize the differences. We also had time to do some fun activities. This time together was important because as with any relationship, it's vital to evaluate and improve communication and set goals for the future.

We have a few prayer requests. The first is that God will give the church members strength to resist the attacks and temptations that Satan throws at them. The second prayer request is for more teachers for the high school. They are not learning science and history because there are not enough teachers, but these high school students are so eager to learn. We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you for taking an interest in the people of Palawan.

March 28, 2011

Hello again to everyone! Thanks to everyone who sends us little messages via Facebook. We've been busy as always at the clinic. We had a stream of inpatients the past few weeks with one patient with typhoid staying 10 days. Typhoid fever does weird things to people and she kept us busy trying to prevent her from pulling out her hair, IV, or urinary catheter. Also, the local public health office down in the lowlands sent a group of people to our clinic to do education about malaria, do blood smears, and hand out mosquito nets.

As I am recovering from my fourth experience with malaria, my mom suggested that I describe a little more about it. Malaria can have a variety of symptoms but the telltale signs are usually fever, chilling, severe headache, nausea, and diarrhea. Malaria is usually cyclical so it is not uncommon to fever at the same time every day. While malaria itself is not fun, the medicine's side effects are not much better. The treatment consists of 3 drugs, chloroquine, primaquine, and Fansidar. I've gotten to the point where I cringe every time I give these meds out to patients at the clinic. With malaria I usually start feeling better by the third day, but it usually takes about a week to get my strength back.

Aside from medical things, it is planting season here. Most everyone has slashed and burned an area for their farm and now are planting rice. The farms are located on the sides of the mountains and I sometimes wonder how they manage to keep from falling off. It is an exciting time for the Palawanos and you can hear whooping and hollering all over the hills. Everyone gathers to watch when someone is burning their field. The next step is to gather all the sticks that didn't burn the first time and stack them in piles to burn again. Then the field is ready for planting. They plant rice by poking a hole in the ground and putting 6-8 grains of rice inside. They don't plant in rows, just wherever. Helping out with the farming has given me a new appreciation for the food we eat here.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Picture ubdate

Surlin making linidgid

Amy planting rice

Unweeded vs weeded rice

Kemantian, where we live

Chris and Imir

The family of the man who had a snake bite

Chris doing a house call

Chris and Manyar (who was recovering from Typhoid)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sounds of the Jungle

When we first arrived here in Kemantian, one of the most noticeable things was the plethora of new sounds. About halfway along the trail to our village, the sounds of the city are exchanged for the sounds of the jungle. At first, the combination of cicaidas, crickets, and other bugs sounded so loud, but now they are background noise. At night we hear bats flying around our hut and there are owls that sound like someone is prank calling us with heavy breathing. There are tucky lizzards that call out, "tuck-y, tuck-y." There are bugs that sound like wind-up toys and others that sound like they are tap dancing. At daybreak (and usually before) the echoes of rooster crows bounce back and forth across the mountains. If 1 rooster crows, it gets them all going and inevitably one comes under our house and crows under our bed. Later we hear baby chicks, various bird calls, and the local cats looking for a meal. At 6:30 am we can hear the laughter of the school kids washing up. Before it starts raining, you can hear it coming toward you. It's nice to have that warning when we have laundry on the line. All day long is filled with sounds of people talking in the high-pitched, sing-song language, crying babies, and school children. This is just a sample of what it sounds like in Kemantian.

Monday, March 5, 2012

February 10, 2012

Things have slowed down here at the clinic, or maybe we have just adjusted to the number of people we see. But no more cholera epidemics or big crises. Here are some interesting facts. In 2011, the medical clinic saw a total of 4,551 patients and 2,059 of those had malaria. There have been more births this past month as well. I have had more experiences walking into a hut and finding the baby and placenta lying on the floor. I was also called to "help" at a delivery and it was the first time the mom was still in labor when I got there. I say "help" because I was basically moral support. The mom was very shy and I don't know anything about delivering babies so I was reading a book equivalent to "How to Deliver Babies for Dummies." The more I read, the more stressed I became because it pointed out all the things that could go wrong. When I first arrived at the hut the room was full of women, but after a while I found myself alone with the mom. I thought to myself, "This is crazy. All the other women here know more about delivering babies than I do. At least they've had their own children." I felt like I was giving them a false sense of security. So I decided to take a break and told the women to come get me if they had any problems. Not long after, they called for me again and when I got there the room was full of women again and the mom had a baby girl. As soon as she was born I was allowed to cut the cord and take care of her. She's probably the warmest baby here in Palawan because she didn't have to lay on a cold floor for a few hours. I praise God for answering my many prayers that afternoon.

We have also been dealing with spiritual attacks among some Christians here. The attacks sometimes start with stomach or kidney pain and when the person is in the middle of it, they are not with it at all, sometimes screaming, sometimes sleeping. We pray, sing songs, and keep the person from getting injured. We know the devil is mad and doing everything in his power to discourage the church here. But we know that God's power is greater and the battle has already been won by the blood of Jesus Christ.

While Chris and I have been here we have had more time to study the Bible. It is becoming very obvious to us that God is calling every person to work for Him. His return is very near and while we are saved by grace, that doesn't mean we should just go to church once a week and be content to keep that knowledge to ourselves. God has a work for each of us to share what we have learned and show the love of Christ to those around us. Whether that work is being a missionary overseas, supporting the church financially, or being a missionary to those around us at home. We are already thinking about what God's plan is for us next year. Of course we have our own wishes and desires, but do they fit in with what God wants us to do? Please continue to pray for the Palawano people and for us as we seek God's will for our life.

Amy

Life at the Clinic

I thought it might be nice to share a typical day at the clinic. We open at 8:00am, and it is not uncommon for people to be waiting on the porch for us. A student worker from high school meets us Monday through Thursday to help us with our workload while learning valuable life skills. Some of the tasks they help us with are: prepacking medicine for quick dispensing, washing cups and syringes used to give medicine, as well as daily clean up around the clinic. The staff is also responsible for teaching the students how to weigh people, taking blood pressure and temperature, finding charts, and filing them away. Some of the more advanced students are given opportunites to practice giving shots to the staff.

Once the clinic has been cleaned up, we begin asking who is sick or needs medicine. It's basically run just like a doctor's office back in the states, except your doctor checks you in, gets all the vitals, and then takes you back to the exam room. Once we determine the illness, we prepare the medicine for the patient. The medicine is placed in plastic bags and knots are tied in the bags to separate doses for different times of the day. Each bag then represents the number of days to take the medicine. We pack it this way because most people can't read.

On a daily basis we see from 5-20 patients, depending on the weather, or if there is an event that requires people to walk by the clinic. Pediatrics makes up the bulk of our patients. The most common thing we treat for is malaria and second to that is upper respiratory illness. There are also a fair number of cases of RSV and pneumonia in children. We also see lots of kids who have sores covering their legs and bodies and I think this is due to poor hygiene.

The adults who come to the clinic most commonly have upper respiratory illness or malaria as well. However, I have seen a few cases of hepatitis, typhoid, and other interesting pathologies. There are also lots of rashes here including ringworm, athlete's itch, atopic dermatitis, and a jungle rash that does not seem to respond to any medicine that we have. Many adults also have dental problems and they often come with symptoms of a tooth abcess.

One of the stranger things that I have only seen in the Palawanos is that sometimes when they eat fish, green mangoes, or passion fruit, they develop severe gastritis. They complain of sharp stabbing pain in their epigastric region, and are unable to walk around. Often they vomit once and then go into a comatose-like state and do not respond to verbal stimuli. Usually I go to their home to treat them and they recover in a day or two.

So that is a quick snapshot of what we do here in the clinic.

Chris Kinney

Chris talking with one of the patients