Halfway there

We all made it safely to Amsterdam after a thankfully uneventful flight.  No turbulence,  good food, and Academy Award winning movies like"Mud", "the Conjuring", and "Despicable Me 2".   The only  interesting thing that happened was that Lisa's tray table literally fell apart a half hour before landing. If it had happened before takeoff I would have thought we were in the movie "Final Destination".  A three hour layover,  an 8 hour flight to Uganda, and we're there . . . At about 11 tonight.   I'll write more on Sunday after our arrival at Uganda.

Last Minute preparations for Minnesota Uganda Dental Camp 2014

Last minute preparations are under way for our Dental mission which begins tomorrow.  We will be boarding our planes (from Minneapolis, Kansas, and Colorado), meeting in Amsterdam and continuing to our final destination of Uganda.  Dr. Paul spent Christmas with his family in Uganda and was able to check on our supplies that were shipped.  Everything has arrived onsite and is waiting for us!  Now all we have to do is get there.  For our Minnesota group it will be an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam and another 8 hour flight to Uganda.  We will also be dealing with a 9 hour difference (Uganda is 9 hours ahead of U.S. Central time).  We were also informed that our clinic location on site has moved to a different building which will bring new challenges.  Prayers for a safe successful clinic are appreciated.  My next post will be from Amsterdam airport on Saturday.

Dr. Paul was mentioned in an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sunday, March 24.  Here is the link  http://www.startribune.com/local/east/199707681.html

A bus load of children after being seen in clinic.

ChiChi, Lisa, and I with some children at tea break.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Scott DeLisi visiting our clinic.

 

Ambassador DeLisi congratulating the team and Mildmay on our 10 year anniversary.

Bob Witt and Dr. Paul receiving an award from Ambassador DeLisi.

ChiChi with a patient in a dress from one of our sponsors, "Little Dresses for Africa".  It was a great partnership that we hope can grow.

Some of the children with Rachael Maerz saying thank you to our sponsors.

Some patients require a team of people for treatment.

Me with a boy with a new pair of britches, courtesy of "Little Dresses for Africa".

Lisa and I with a patient.

Caroline MacLeod (Deputy Director of Mildmay) with a patient after treatment.

Children in line early for the Dental Clinic

Our Children's Program keep the children entertained while they wait.  Dr. Paul's daughters were there to help one day.

Beth and Kristin with a patient in a pedo-wrap for restraint and safety.  With the language barrier it takes some convincing from our interpreters for the children to use this.  Some think they are being put in a burial shroud.

Bob Witt keeping our dental carts working.

Safely Home!

After a long day of travel including an unscheduled hour delay at Entebbe, we are safely home.  We said goodbye to parts of our team in Amsterdam (Larry, Wilma, Jim, Bob, Rachael, Andrew, and Kristin left for a connecting flight to Detroit, and Julie stayed on in Amsterdam for a week).  Looking back, it is hard to do a mission like this without support.  We supported by supplies from Patterson Dental, Adec, and "Little Dresses for Africa";  from care by Mildmay Centre and it's wonderful staff ; and most of all by our loved ones who supported us all along the way.  I will post pictures and posts in the coming days after I've had a chance to decompress.

Last day of clinic and packup

Today was our last day of clinic and we saw a reduced load of patients.  We saw 11 Mildmay staff and 8 children.  Our total for the trip was 454 patients seen.  We were hoping to see 400, so we were well pleased with our total.   Everyone was safe and it was a very good trip.   One story from our trip.  At the end of the day on Thursday we saw that we were going to run out of photo paper for our patients' pictures.  We asked Caroline how we could get some photo paper.  She had a friend who was a photographer and he was near Mildmay.  He could drop off what paper he had.  It was 10 sheets of paper (exactly how many we would need) in exactly the right size.  As Bob Witt told me afterwards, "The Lord will provide".   I am writing from the Entebbe airport waiting for our flight to Amsterdam.  We will be home tomorrow at 12:35PM.  More when we are safely home.