4-28-2014 Monday Vision Clinic Opening was Excellent

We had breakfast at 6:45 and were on our way to Kibera by 7:15 as planned.  Traffic is lighter than normal this week because school is out.  There is full year school here, they have three terms with a month off between each.  It’s nice to be able to leave a little later and still arrive at our destination either early or right on time.  We got to the church at 7:30 and began arranging the pews and tables the way we had decided last night would give us the best flow for the clinic.  As usual, we tweaked the layout several times during the day. Pastor Kevin would have been proud of us, he’s the master at envisioning and then implementing efficient work flows in any given physical layout.  They must have a class in that at seminary that got an A in!  Once the clinic was ready from a physical standpoint, we had a devotion which consisted of singing some great praise songs together, Pastor James preaching from the Gospel of Mark and myself going over the evangelism cube for our new and veteran team members.  I like to do that on the first day of a clinic.  It’s something Kevin Pieper of Salem and I hit upon 2 years ago.  We are used to asking clinic goers if they have any questions about what they had heard out in the evangelism tents and it dawned on us that many of the people inside the clinic didn’t have a clue as to what was being said and done out there.  So, since that time, I have liked to show the whole team an abbreviated version of the evangelism presentation using either the cube itself, a colorful cube with 7 pictures that tell the story of the Gospel, or some blown up versions of the same pictures on large cards.  I do think it has made a difference in the way we do what we call our “second touch” with the Gospel message.  The “first touch” is the evangelism tent experience, the “second touch” is a one on one conversation, usually, but not always, at the triage station of the clinic.  We finished with a prayer and opened the clinic at about 9am. 

There was a tent full of people ready to begin the process of going through the vision clinic, some had been there as early as 6am.  The startup of the clinic was as smooth as any that I have been involved in.  It really helps to have a team that has a good mix of veteran members and some who have only been one time or who are novices.  The old hands can look for flaws in the process for about the first hour or so and correct things early in the game.  By the afternoon, the clinic was running as well as most do on Wednesday, after much more practice and time to perfect the process.  By noon, we had already seen about 200 people and the clinic finished with exactly 450 people having been served.  To put this in perspective, this is my 10th vision clinic and to the best of my recollection, we have never had a bigger day.  Everyone was dog tired as we drove back to Rosa Mystica and I’m positive everyone will sleep quite soundly tonight.  We had a good dinner with a buffet that included pork, rice, chapatti bread, mixed vegetables and fruit.  I was hungry, as I had only eaten a granola bar and a king size Payday candy bar along the way during the day. 

One of the highlights of the day for me was when three of Evelyn’s family including her husband and her daughter came to the clinic for treatment.  She was the lady I shared with on the plane between London and Nairobi.  Her father is coming into town tomorrow, he will rest from his journey and then come to the clinic Wednesday morning to be examined for possible cataract surgery.  I talked to her briefly on the phone and we will have at least one patient on the national holiday on Thursday, Evelyn herself.  The blessings continue to flow! 

That’s about all for now.  There will be more daily reports and when it’s all over, I’ll once again compile some reflections on what the trip meant to us and what some of the highlights were as well as get somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 of our best pictures linked to the blog to also help tell the story.  In the meantime, continue to keep a safe and effective mission for us in your prayers.