Sunday, May 6-Tuesday, May 8: Last patient fittings and travel home

On Sunday, Amanda, Protashow and I left New Day for Livingstone. Chris stayed behind to see the last 3 patients that didn't come on Saturday...who we hoped would make it to the clinic on Sunday.

Protashow took Amanda and me to Victoria Falls on Sunday and then to the market downtown.

These baboons got really close on the walking path at the Falls. 

Only 2 of the 3 patients came on Sunday for prosthetic fitting. Mainde and Denis came, but Simon did not. (And we didn't get any pictures of the fittings). Chris said both fittings went really well, and we talked with Protashow about fitting Simon if he comes to the clinic. 

Farewell clinic....until September. Since we have the storage room and work areas set up now, we get to leave a lot of supplies and tools in the storage bins, etc. This will make it easier for Protashow to see patients for repairs between our trips, and it made it nice that we didn't have to have everything packed up before we left. Protashow would take care of more organizing and cleaning after he got back from Livingstone.

On Monday morning, Blu drove Chris to Livingstone to meet up with us before we went to the airport. Before we had to be at the airport, Protashow was super nice and got up early to take us on a short, self guided game drive in Livingstone at Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. We didn't see much large wildlife but it was still really cool, and Protashow was a great guide.

We saw lots of warthogs and this really large bird (that I don't know what it's called).

There was also a lot of impala.

And this giant bird (again, don't know the name of it). We also saw one hippo, but I didn't get a picture.

Once we met up with Blu and Chris, we got all our luggage together and headed to the airport. We met up with John at the airport in South Africa and arrived back in Texas on Tuesday, May 8. Another successful trip for PPIHN in the books!

Well, that's a wrap on my blog posts about our Spring 2018 trip. We are making plans and getting ready for our September 2018 trip. Right now, the team for September will include Suzanne O'Connor (prosthetist/orthotist from Dallas who went on our 2016 trip), me (prosthetist/orthotist), my friend Louise Mahnich, who is going to assist the team and be our photographer/videographer, and Protashow, our "on the ground, year round" team member. 

I hope this series of blog posts has shown what Prosthetic Promises is all about, and more importantly what God is doing with this ministry. All the team members are just blessed to be part of this. We are constantly in awe of the things God is doing with Prosthetic Promises....the number of people praying for this ministry, the donations that make these trips possible, and the new connections and conversations that are showing us how PPIHN is growing. Thank you for your prayers and support for PPIHN!