Day 8 and I Didn't Break the Washing Machine!

So first things first. I forgot to post this yesterday but it turns out it wasn't my fault the washer flooded the apartment! Pretty excited about that. The pump for the machine is actually broken which caused the problem. Tomorrow we should get done with clinic early so when we get back the maintenance guys will be able to come up and fix the problem.

On a more serious note today was by far the best day of clinic we have had. The morning started off really slow at the special needs orphanage but got kicked into high gear when we traveled to the orphanage for HIV + kids later. The children there had not received general medical care in quite some time so we were able to see all of them for check ups or whatever complaints they had. They were so full of life and so much fun to be around. It was very humbling to see how normal they were even though they are infected with such a horrible and unforgiving virus. All of the children there had been born with the disease and were abandoned by their parents for one reason or another. I think they truly appreciated having some guys to play with as most of the orphanage staff are females. We really got to take our time wih each child and spend a good bit of time playing with all of them. One of my favorite parts of the day is when Melvin, a 4 year old, just started grabbing books off a shelf and came and sat with me and had me read to him for 20 minutes or so. I am sure that one on one attention is something he rarely if ever gets and was something that I got on a daily basis when I was his age. I am sure that I took it for granted but looking back I hope my parents, grandparents and extended family know how much I appreciate every moment they spent with me. Before we left we gave the Tia (orphanage director) two of the soccer balls Tenke and I brought. The kids were beyond excited and hopefully they can use them for months and yeas to come.

In the afternoon we went to a video conference at the medical school here in San Sal. We got to take a tour of the anatomy lab before hand. It was pretty cool to see how much different it was from the truly state of the art facilities we have at VCOM. It was still very clean and surprisingly didn't smell that strongly of formaldehyde considering in was largely open and 90+ degrees today. The video conference was ok, we had no clue what was going on but did learn some interesting facts about med school here in El Sal. It takes 8 years to complete and you begin right after high school like several other Latin American countries. They do 4 years of didactic/classroom work, 3 years of clinicals and then work in rural government run clinics for 1 year before graduating. They also pay their tuition on a monthly basis rather than yearly. Their tuition it roughly $300 per month which is very expensive given the poverty here.

I hope everyone is well back home, and I am very much looking forward to being back there in just over two weeks!