On June 26, Terrie and Stewart Abbot and Dr. Mike Sturm left DIA for the long flight to Nigeria. 24 hours later we arrived in Abuja, Nigeria by way of Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany. We spent the next day relaxing and touring Abuja and boarded a plane for Owerri on the 28th.
Once we arrived in Owerrri we got down to work planning for the week of medical outreach and counting the thousands of pills that would be given out over the course of the week. We buy our meds in bulk and have to have them all in their original containers to pass through customs. By the end of the week we had counted and distributed over 76,000 pills! We got everyone into the act, including the president of a local Rotary Club and his wife who came by to introduce themselves to Stewart. We were very grateful to everyone who pitched in to help complete this daunting task. It is an ongoing ritual throughout the week to keep the stock of medicines available for patients.
Bright and early on Monday morning we loaded the car and headed out to the village. We were greeted by over 50 people waiting for us when we arrived at the clinic. We had come up with a system utilizing different colored cards printed with numbers to hand out everyday. That first day we handed out 120 cards for medical visits and 40 for eye exams. By the end of the day we had seen over 200 people. The theory of limiting the number of patients to the number of cards was just that - a theory. We began seeing patients at 9:00 am and finished at 6:30 pm. We worked all day without a break. We were treated to a wonderful dinner at the Nkwocha home and headed back to Owerri to count more pills.
Tuesday was a much easier day, as we limited the number of cards given out to 80 for medical exams and 25 for eye exams. We still saw 140 patients, but we finished much earlier. Several of our volunteers change their work schedules to the night shift the week that we are in town and it is important to get them to work on time! The numbers of people waiting for us continued to grow over the week. By Thursday people had come to the clinic at 2:00 am and slept in the rain to be sure they’d get a number to be seen. That day we gave out all the numbers for Friday to the overflow of patients waiting when we arrived. All in all, Mike saw 250 patients for eye exams and the medical team saw 750.
The needs of the people continue to be the same as we have seen before - malaria and typhoid, diabetes, hypertension, aches and pains of arthritis, various skin conditions and worms. We have not been able to offer prenatal services yet since our weekly clinics are still being held in an open air pavilion at the Nkwocha family compound.
On Friday evening, heading back to Owerri, the car gave it’s last gasp. We managed to make it to a church compound where we abandoned it and called a driver to come and get us. We are praying that we may find a reliable heavy-duty car that can handle the rough roads without constantly needing repairs.
We met the following Monday with the representative from Project Cure. Dr. Catherine Uzoma is a native of Imo state who has spent her career practicing and teaching public health at Howard University. She has recently retired and now travels for Project Cure as a site surveyor. She seemed very impressed with our project and having done multiple medical outreaches in Nigeria was a great source of information. She filled out our wish list and will submit her recommendations to Project Cure. If we can raise the funds for shipping we should have a very well equipped clinic by the first of the year!
None of this would be possible without the support of our donors. We are very blessed by each and every one of you who have given from your hearts to our project. We are constantly amazed at how quickly this dream is turning into a reality. We hope to have the Clinic open full time sometime in January. Then we will be able to return to our original purpose of providing quality obstetrical to the women of Nguru Umuaro and the surrounding area. Until then we will continue to offer weekly clinics and free medications to pregnant women and children and people with chronic hypertension and diabetes.