When we got up to the clinic Saturday morning, Juliety was already there waiting on us. This picture is the initial fitting process of getting the liner and socket fitting well and comfortable.
After making sure the prosthesis fit well, here's Juliety learning to walk with the prosthesis. She did well with getting the knee to bend and was anxious to walk without her crutches. I'm sure she'll be walking without crutches very soon.
Everyone waiting on the porch. There were 13 prosthetic patients and 7 eye patients for fittings on Saturday.
Chris fitting Hamanyuma with his prosthesis.
Patients watching the Jesus film on the porch. Instead of a projector on a sheet like on Friday, Saturday we had a TV screen which was much easier to see.
Traci fitting Maggie with Mulenga translating for them.
Adjusting Steven's prosthesis. He was so determined to learn how to walk with the prosthesis quickly. He was practicing up and down the sidewalk outside the clinic once we finished with the fitting. I was glad to see Steven this year since we didn't have materials to make him a prosthesis last year.
Traci fitting Triness with a partial foot prosthesis. The front part of her foot is amputated but she still has her heel.
This took a bit of creativity to make. I had to cut a prosthetic foot to get just the flat rigid carbon plate that acts as the full foot in the shoe. Triness walked really well with the prosthesis, and this will definitely be helpful in protecting her residual foot.
By Saturday we were running really low on shoes, especially larger sizes. Chris ended up giving her shoes to a patient and walked around the clinic in just her socks for the rest of the day.
Here's Cloudy learning how to walk with the prosthesis. Mulenga was translating and instructing him.
John's patient before...
...and after.
Before...
...and after.
First look in the hand mirror. It's nice to see people's reactions when they see themselves in the mirror after fitting with their prosthetic eye.
Waiting on the porch. Something I found really awesome was how the group on Saturday were so supportive of each other. After someone was finished with fitting of their prosthesis and walked back out on the porch, everyone clapped.
Cambree showing her fine assistant skills and organized notes on each of John's patients. She helped John again on Saturday by translating.
Misozi before...
...and after. Beautiful smile showing how happy she was!
Jorum learning to walk with his prosthesis.
This is Colence. He had a prosthesis that was many years old that we repaired and then also casted him for a new prosthesis. We told him we would make him a new one if we had enough materials and time....so he was obviously really excited that we were able to make him a new one.
Another of John's patients before...
...and after.
I really love how intently he's looking at his new prosthetic eye.
After everyone was finished being fit, it was mid-afternoon. Here's everyone loaded back up on the bus for Protashow to take them back to Choma.
After everyone left, we packed up the clinic supplies and equipment for storage until next year. We left hand tools and supplies that Protashow may need for repairs easily accessible.
After finishing up at the clinic, we stopped by to see the kids at Kid's Club. Here's everyone lining up for food.
And then (shocking to us all) Chris actually climbed the water tower this year to see the sunset. So excited that she finally did it....such a beautiful view from the water tower.
After dinner, everyone was stopping in at the guesthouse to say goodbyes. Then someone in a car arrived at New Day's front gate after dark...after they went to see who it was, we found out it was someone who came for a prosthesis. Talk about really bad timing. We got his contact info and will see him next year.
We would leave New Day on Sunday morning to head to Livingstone. This year, we took an extra day at the end of our trip as a "personal" day to go on a safari in Botswana. We've wanted to do this but have hesitated in the past, since our trip is for this mission work. We all decided with the same working days as past trips, we could just tack on an extra day at the end and each pay our own way for a safari.
*Next post: Sunday, April 30-Wednesday, May 3: Victoria Falls, a safari and heading home
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