Thursday - Our largest clinic yet

We did our usual routine of 6am breakfast, got in the van at 7am and rode into Kibera. There were some people already waiting for the clinic to open when we arrived. We had a daily devotion and prayer along with some wonderful acapella music that the entire group of volunteers participated in, with our friend Rosemary leading the song. It was a solo and response number, first in Swahili and then in English which basically said Jesus is the winner for one verse, Satan is the loser for another and wrapping up with trusting in what the blood of Jesus has done. A great way to kick off the clinic. 641 patients were seen during the day, we barely stopped for anything. Several people visited during the day, including a Finnish Lutheran pastor and the owner of the transportation company we use, John. We had dinner at a newer Italian restaurant in town called Osteria with our LCMS missionaries Shauen and Crystal Trump, their young son Josiah who was remarkably well-behaved even though he was in the throes of teething and Catherine, our superhero mission coordinator, without whom these missions would be much less successful, if possible at all. All of the behind the scenes work she does in preparation for fielding multiple teams several times a year is nothing short of astonishing. It may be something as mundane as making sure our customs process goes smoothly by standing in line for hours getting permits of one sort or another or it might entail working out budgets for each location based on their unique needs. I know her cell phone bill must be astronomical, since she is never more than a minute away from being called or needing to contact someone to avoid or put out a potential fire. It was a joy for the team to break bread with them. We got back to our lodgings around 9pm and everyone hit the sack in preparation for the hard work of the last day of the clinic.