Always Smile

Today was our second day in the field, and it was scheduled to be similar to yesterday with each of us following a different PFC staff member. Petrina shadowed Charles and helped him with patients in the clinic while Mfon went out in the field with Peter to use the Sana technology and assess members of the community. Today, I was supposed to shadow Dr. Vincent and see what he did on a regular everyday basis. However, God threw a little kink in the day and completely changed what Dr. Vincent's plan for the day was. There's a 6 year old little orphan boy, Stephen, whom the PFC staff have taken under their wing since meeting him on the streets a while back. He lives in the orphanage, but when he started to get sick they brought him to the PFC house to get checked out by Dr. Vincent and hopefully to be cured. Dr. Vincent isn't able to make a diagnosis without running some tests, which aren't available in his clinic. So today we took Stephen to the hospital to get an ultrasound and some blood work done.

Although my heart ached to see Stephen not feeling well, I was a little excited to see the hospital and how different it was compared to those in the states. As we got in the car Dr. Vincent told me that for today I was to be Stephen's mother and so when he cried I was to rock him and so on. For those of you that know me, you know how easy it was for me to step into that role. We got to the hospital and the looks of it were pretty much what I expected. We did a lot of sitting and waiting to be called back for the tests, much like what we experience in the states. However, I was surprised that even though we were just walk-ins we were able to obtain the results rather quickly. Within an hour of each test we received the results for Dr. Vincent to analyze before Stephen's appointment with the pediatric specialist tomorrow. So even though we got results relatively quickly, we still did a lot of waiting. This meant entertaining a little boy, neither one of us knowing the same language. I decided to try some hand clapping games, drawing pictures and communicating with gestures. This seemed to work well as it would get him to concentrate on things other then not feeling well. There were times he would look at me and give me the biggest grin that just warmed my heart.

It wasn't really until I came here to Kenya that I realized that no matter what language you may speak, a smile is a kind gesture that can speak volumes. No matter where you go in the world if you see someone smiling it's a sign of welcome, peace, and kindness. I think it's one of the ways that God links us all together. It's a way for us to convey a message of love and Christ to each and every person that we meet. I think I've always been a person who smiles at people when talking or even in passing, but it really wasn't until recently how much just that one small gesture can mean so much, especially when there are obstacles preventing other ways of communication.

So, with that said What if? you smiled more?

-Samantha