Today was "African drumming & Dance" night at camp. It was an ensemble of 4 drummers and 1 dancer, decked out in West African garb. I went because the African Drumming & Dance group at UVA was one of my favorite things. Well, this time it was no different. If anything, it was almost more magical because they had the kids participate. Half of the kids were on drums while the other half danced and then they switched.
A few times this past week, I've been upset with the kids...how they act, the things that come out of their mouth, etc. But tonight, it was hard to not just smile and be proud of them. I loved watching them be carefree....dancing to the drums or totally focused on the beat. I loved how the kids encouraged each other, too. It's hard to describe in words but I realized, doesn't matter if kids have cerebral palsy or type I diabetes or HIV, they are so loveable and so full of love to give. God bless them.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Never Again.
Since a recent sermon series, I've tried hard to not complain (especially hard because I know for med students, it's 2nd nature for us to complain). But I really need to blog about our camp-out. These two weeks, I'm working at a camp for kids with chronic diseases. A couple days ago, it was our "camp out". Usually, we sleep in air-conditioned cabins at camp but that night, the girls were going to sleep on top of a hill nearby and the boys were at a separate site. Well, that sounds like fun but we had two huge down-pours around 7 and 8 o clock so the entire area was wet and a lot of areas were also flooded. The camp directors decided to go on with camp-out plans because alas, there were to be no more rainstorms the rest of the night. I had been praying quite hard that there would be so that this ingenious idea would be canceled. We went up at around 9 pm to what would normally be a nice camp site, I guess. For the next 2 hours though, the kids and their counselors went on a "refridgerator walk"--sorry long story, won't explain--and my job as "Med Staff" was to literally guard the fort and keep the campfire alive (only so that when they returned, the counselors can stay up and be obnoxiously loud).
I was left all alone in the wilderness. What if a bear came out of the woods? What would I do if I saw a snake? WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF? At 10 pm, I hid in my wet sleeping bag with my cell phone in one hand and my flashlight in the other. And I waited until they came an hour later with fear and trembling. Ok, so I survived that part. Can't get any worse.
Well it did. From 11 pm to midnight, 10-15 year old girls yelled "shut up" at each other non-stop. The girl next to me was snoring her head off so I moved my sleeping bag to another location. (OH! I forgot to mention we were sleeping on wooden planks....not inside TENTS like civilized campers.)Once the girls finally quieted down, the counselors were hollering at the campfire that was a couple hundred feet away so that there was really no hope in falling asleep. I think I slept for 45 minutes before my bladder woke me up at 1:45 am. I NEVER NEED TO PEE AT NIGHT. Why now was I having nocturia???!!!! I was so mad. After 15 minutes of being angry at myself for needing to pee and recognizing that I wouldn't be able to sleep because my bladder was demanding emptying, I got out of my sleeping bag and walked to the edge of the woods. Never again, I thought.
Since I was already up and angry at the world, I decided I would check on the diabetic girls' blood glucose levels. I got my kit out. One girl was good. The other, unsurprisingly, was low so I got her orange juice and graham crackers. And yes, I am now the master of checking sleeping kids' blood glucose in the dark in the wild. I am just sparing a lot of details...
I tried to go back to sleep, feeling exhausted. But one girl had the worst hacking cough q4 minutes. I guess my body was done fighting and I eventually slept until my classmate woke me up at 6 am to ask if I remembered to check the diabetics (she had slept through her alarm). I tried to sleep for a little more but couldn't because it was FREEZING AND WET so I woke up, wiped the dew off my face, packed my sleeping bag and hiked back to the med corner.
I was left all alone in the wilderness. What if a bear came out of the woods? What would I do if I saw a snake? WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF? At 10 pm, I hid in my wet sleeping bag with my cell phone in one hand and my flashlight in the other. And I waited until they came an hour later with fear and trembling. Ok, so I survived that part. Can't get any worse.
Well it did. From 11 pm to midnight, 10-15 year old girls yelled "shut up" at each other non-stop. The girl next to me was snoring her head off so I moved my sleeping bag to another location. (OH! I forgot to mention we were sleeping on wooden planks....not inside TENTS like civilized campers.)Once the girls finally quieted down, the counselors were hollering at the campfire that was a couple hundred feet away so that there was really no hope in falling asleep. I think I slept for 45 minutes before my bladder woke me up at 1:45 am. I NEVER NEED TO PEE AT NIGHT. Why now was I having nocturia???!!!! I was so mad. After 15 minutes of being angry at myself for needing to pee and recognizing that I wouldn't be able to sleep because my bladder was demanding emptying, I got out of my sleeping bag and walked to the edge of the woods. Never again, I thought.
Since I was already up and angry at the world, I decided I would check on the diabetic girls' blood glucose levels. I got my kit out. One girl was good. The other, unsurprisingly, was low so I got her orange juice and graham crackers. And yes, I am now the master of checking sleeping kids' blood glucose in the dark in the wild. I am just sparing a lot of details...
I tried to go back to sleep, feeling exhausted. But one girl had the worst hacking cough q4 minutes. I guess my body was done fighting and I eventually slept until my classmate woke me up at 6 am to ask if I remembered to check the diabetics (she had slept through her alarm). I tried to sleep for a little more but couldn't because it was FREEZING AND WET so I woke up, wiped the dew off my face, packed my sleeping bag and hiked back to the med corner.
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