Next stop Rwanda

We had a lovely dinner and breakfast snack on the plane ride to Amsterdam (not to mention unlimited movies!) Sadly, the landing was some what bumpy, which made one of the natives vomit on the floor. Our group, however, stayed strong! Next stop Rwanda!

Amsterdam bound

The flight to atl was fairly smooth. After a "well balanced meal" at the atl airport, we are now on a huge airbus about to take off... THEY JUST PASSED OUT EYE SHADES AND HEAD SETS! TIME FOR THE 7.5 HR FLIGHT!

Day 0, Still in Mobile, Al

My name is Anna Crutchfield. I'm a 4th year medical student going to Rwanda this year and this is my team's blog. Here, you can find daily updates on what's going on from the perspective of all the students participating in this epic journey. I hope and pray we grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually on this trip together. 

Currently, we are getting all our supplies together, weighing luggage, finding passports, and checking visas. We will be leaving for ATL this Sunday Jan. 31, 2016, and from there-> Amsterdam to Rwanda! 

Every day, one person will have the job of posting a story, pictures, or whatever is on their hearts on this page. Thank you for your interest and support!

Day 4

Today was another great day of clinic!  We traveled to a village called Villa Verde.  We set up our clinic in a local church.  When we arrived, we were told this village is known for its witchcraft and voodoo.  We were excited to share the gospel and love the people through medicine, PT and OT.

The physical therapy team saw a man who was stabbed and as a result suffered from a spinal cord injury with neurological deficits from 25 years ago.  He seemed very discouraged by his circumstances.  He did not have a wheelchair and they were able to give him one.  They also provided him with therapy and exercises to improve his strength.  Occupational therapy also worked with him.  They educated him on functional use of his hands and performed weight bearing activities with him.  He left in much better spirits.  The gospel was presented to him and several patients today.  

In the afternoon a few team members decided to take a short walk in the village in hopes to share the Gospel message. To our surprise, a young man named Charlie shared his testimony that served to encourage us! He had been physically abused by his father as a child to the point of abandoning his family to live with his friends in Villa Verde. He mentioned that he left his home searching for a solution to his ease his wounds inflicted by his father. Charlie said that after a friend had shared Jesus with him it wasn't until he had a vision of God that he surrendered his life to Christ. He said that God told him, "I am your solution, your Heavenly Father who loves you and will never leave you nor forsake you." It was without question the Spirit was alive in Charlie, and he is currently leading a small ministry where he is collecting donated items and distributing them out to village members in hopes of sharing the Gospel. 

The medical team saw 70 patients caring for several ailments.  The Physician Assistant Students were very involved in patient care and have been fine the opportunity to interview, assess, diagnose, and come up with treatment plans with some oversight.  They also had the opportunity to provide spiritual care through prayer and encouragement.  It is awesome to see them loving their future profession.  

We had Wacky Wednesday with our scrubs.  Score provides us with our scrubs for the week and some of the choices are quite colourful!!  We had a fashion show and competition for wackiest!  Pictures and possible video to follow.  

Enjoy a video of clinic and pictures from today.  We are really enjoying ourselves and ministering to the people of the Dominican. 

Greetings from the Dominican Republic! We have been extremely busy doing the Lord"s work with some local churches here, but first let me back up and summarize all that's happened since we arrived.

We are staying in a place called Juan Dolio near the capital city of Santo Domingo, in a house owned by SCORE International. The morning after we got here, our group of 25 worshiped at a church in the village of Honduras which was about 45 minutes from where we are staying. We had a great time meeting the villagers and interacting with the children.

On Monday, we packed up our equipment and headed to the village of Forty-One. There, we provided medical and rehab therapy to the community. One of our mentors, Dr. Bob, has been instrumental in providing support and guidance to us. We attended to 60 people medically and spiritually.

One of the cool stories from Monday was when a blind man came into the church. After praying with him and working with a translator, those involved helped lead the man to Christ. It was  definitely a highlight of the day for our group.

Today, we went to a church called Iglesia Bautista Cristo e Unico in the town of Monte Cristy. One of the major ministries of a church is to house 45 residents in a nursing home. We attended to the needs of the residents; the PT and OT students worked on wound care and basic functions with them while the med and PA students did diagnosis and treatment.

It was difficult for many of us to see how underserved the elderly are here, but we are glad that we had the opportunity to minister to them and show them Christ's love.

More to come tomorrow,
Amy Vu (PA student)

P.S. - We are having some internet problems, but we will be sure to update photos when we can!

Here we go!

We are on our way! 25 PT/PA/OT/MD students and faculty from USA going to serve in the Dominican Republic for 10 days. Pray for us! More to come...