Let me tell you about my favorite ministry day on the race. My team raised $300 in order to run a popup malaria clinic for a village in Lilongwe, Malawi. We received training from our contact on how to administer the malaria tests the day before. We made our way to the village in eager anticipation. Once we arrived we were given a short tour of the village and took pictures of some of the houses our contact helped build. And then we set up the clinic in a school building at the entrance to the village. Before this time our contact had only run one popup malaria clinic and he worked with only one other woman. This time we had my team(A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.) of 7, two squad leaders, our contact and two others. So 12 people compared to 2! It was awesome!
My team and I were paired off. One person was to hold the child and the other person did the pricking. I chose to be a pricker. We would prick the fingers and turn them over to drop the blood on a stick. Then we would put that stick in the malaria test kit. And then it would show if they had malaria or not. Should be easy right?! ….. Wrong!
It was challenging. If we touch the stick to their finger too early then it is almost impossible to get enough blood on the stick for the test to read accurately. But wrestling with these small children and causing them a small amount of pain was all worth it.
We ran tests on about 80 children that day. And of that 75-80% of them were positive for malaria. And we were able to administer medication that would make them ALL malaria free in 3 DAYS!!!!!! Praise Jesus!!!
This was my favorite day on the race, not just because of the tangible needs that we were able to meet. But also because I love medical stuff like that. I used to be a lifeguard and I love the feeling of being in control in a somewhat out of control environment. Situations like that make me come alive. I wish we could have had more malaria clinics in more villages. Hopefully I will be able to return some day soon to be a part of this type of ministry!
