"Blessed to Bless"

Hello-

I had a great weekend with lots of things to see, do, and fun times!! It started out with a ride into town (Mbabane) with rain, fog,and slippery muddy dirt roads. You know your in a third world country when your dodging cows, goats, and chickens when driving down the road, as if the thick fog wasn’t enough of a distraction. I went to spend the weekend with a friend of mine Chris from USA, his Aunt Carlie, Uncle Jim, and cousin David (who is tall, good looking, and very funny not to mention). They live about 30 min outside of Mbabane on a sugar cane farm called Malkerns. It was so peaceful and beautiful being on the farm just overlooking all the rolling hills of agriculture and beautiful mountains in the distance (picture included). There are Pineapple fields all around the sugar cane farm and I saw them picking the Pineapples as well which I thought was neat. We went to the candle factory where they hand carve candles, and it was quite impressive. Spoke to a gentleman there who has been carving for 22 years and also teaches the newer guys his stellar technique. Quite impressive to watch them quickly manipulate and carve the animals out of wax. Then we went to another shop and I learned how they make a picture on cloth material with wax called a “Batik”. It’s really neat to watch and understand the process of the final picture. Many intricate steps are involved. The lady is drawing the picture on the fabric with hot wax. (In my picture posted)

Went on a couple of great walks, went on my first Big Game type safari which David took me, and he did a good job explaining the different animals, he especially had an eye for the crocodiles!! Went to a Braai that evening and watched the Rugby game. Oh and I also watched some Cricket for the first time in my life, and after a while I was catching on to the concept. The family I stayed with was very delightful and very accommodating that I really didn’t want to leave so soon. (Thanks again Chris for the arrangement!!) Jim made a delicious breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs etc... and we sat outside on the patio and had a wonderful meal with a beautiful view. It was a very nice weekend and enjoyed seeing so much more of Swaziland and many other beautiful places!

Work has been good and hard this week with a bit more of a challenge because I am working on mainly older children more. I have seen over 200 children now and have extracted 21 teeth to date. This was a big week for extractions, abscess’s, infections, and emergency tooth ache exams. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I didn’t leave the clinic till around 6:00pm still working on kids. I even had a little 8yr old girl knock on the house door Tuesday morning at 6:40 am and I answered in my pajamas because I am the only one up at that time in my house. I have never seen this girl in the clinic yet and who knows how far she walked to come find me. She said, Auntie Melissa can you please help me I have a bad tooth that hurts. Of course I had medical gloves inside the house so I invited her in and took a look at her mouth on the couch. She had a huge cavity and so I told her to come to the clinic that day so I could take it out and make her feel better. I also cleaned her teeth that day but come to find out she had 10 teeth with cavities. I had worked on a 16yr old boy for 1 hour 40 min just on his top teeth removing hard calculus/tartar and told him he had to come back another day to finish the bottom. He then said to me, “I didn’t know I was growing rocks under my gums” Very good description I thought. Then the next day I had a 17yr old boy that I spent 2hrs 10 min on and he now has a clean mouth. I actually took before and after photos of his gums to just document how bad it was to now how good his gums are already healing. He had periodontal disease, gingival hyperplasia, mobility, and major halitosis. So I decided to spare you all the before and after photos but for all my dental professional people reading/following this blog I can’t wait to share with you the photos and the gum tissue healing. On Wednesday I had an 8yr old boy ask me if I was trying to take his tooth out because I was scraping so hard and had to apply a lot of pressure to just remove the calculus/tartar. So I am telling myself that I really need a “Holiday” aka vacation to rest my hands and my mind.

Went horse back riding on Wednesday after work with Talitha who owns the horses here. They have horses for the orphans to ride as a type of therapy. It was fun taking them through the forest and it felt like something out of a movie. We saw many monkeys of course and the horses don’t like them so much. The weather has been about the same with about 2 days of sunshine half of the day. I have had more and more people show up to the clinic with tooth aches and wanting to be seen, that I think they know my time here is nearing and they are just desperate to be seen. It’s so sad because there is SUCH a need and I truly wish I had more time here!! I continue to think of you all back home and hope all is well with you and your families! Thank You all for all your prayers!

Blessings,

Melissa

1 Thessalonians 5:18