"You came here"

Photo: A standing clinic

Photo: Ben's new friend

Photo: Girasoles at dusk

Our last clinic day in Ica was an amazing experience for everyone. Our team collectively decided that we needed to shift our clinic to the desperately impoverished area of Girasoles. This decision was one that would come back to serve us well.

HBI's Director of Operations is charged with the unforgiving job of saying no to the many extra people who show up for the clinics. Sometimes this task is made easy by the fact that our team can fit in a few extra patients or the fact that we are serving in a smaller community; but most of the time, his job is really difficult.

During clinic on Wednesday, Ben politely told a woman that we would be unable to see her and that she should come back the next day. She told Ben that her job made it impossible for her to get to the outreach clinic at 4 or 5 a.m. (as many of the people had to see us) and that she would only be able to get to see us after 6 p.m. He again, politely apologized and explained that all of our equipment and supplies had been packed up and we could just not see her. This is really hard on Ben.

On Thursday, in the sand and dust of the desperately impoverished area of Girasoles, Ben felt a tug on his shirt and turned to see his friend from the day before. He explained that she had a smile on her face from ear-to-ear and said to him with great glee, "you came here, you really came here to see us."

We saw her that night in the cold of the desert moonlight - and it was a great day indeed.