We Had Much Larger Crowds Awaiting Us This Morning.....

As we arrived this morning the crowds had already formed at the gate. It's still not the sense of urgency that we had last year when the crowds stayed in line all night so as not to lose their places but it was much busier today.

The dental clinic was much busier and I got out from behind the sterilization vats and got to do some over-the-shoulder help today. I was working with one of the Peruvian dentists and she doesn't speak English so that made for an interesting afternoon but overall we got a lot done. She specializes in children's dentistry which can be both rewarding and gut-wrenching. It's kind of difficult to watch the little ones--and some are really little--come in and you can see the fear in their eyes. Then they go through the pain-killing shots and the trauma of having teeth extracted. We don't do fillings here--no drills--so it's basically pulling teeth all day long. On the other hand, some come in with their mothers and watch with fear from the corner while their mother gets her teeth worked on.

Today I did a lot of topical anesthetic application and holding the flashlight. I enjoy it and it's personally rewarding. I literally tower over the dentist so holding the flashlight is easy enough for me.

Since this was our second day--and first full "organized" day--we met this evening and discussed what we had experienced. In addition to the many children we've had a number of really sad cases involving pregnant women who had been abandoned by their husbands--one is expecting any day now and was dumped in a park last weekend and had been sleeping on park benches the past two nights. We had a cocaine addict come in asking for money to attend a rehab program--he got a referral slip instead. A lot of the children are basically healthy but had never had a medical exam and their mothers just wanted to assure themselves their children were healthy. As I said Monday, I feel many of the children from the orphanage have better dental hygiene, overall health and often seem happier than the children from the surrounding villages. It's something to watch them--they're always in groups--and they take wonderful care of each other. They hold hands in lines, watch over the really small ones and seem to have a real sense of caring for each other. I guess when they don't have parents they have to watch out for each other but they are really good at it.