Well, it is over. The several thousand people that attended Festival Victoria have returned to their homes. The tents are still standing, but the cars are all gone. Manuel has a group of workers raking up the trash.
Rossy dispensing meds
Medical Campaign
This was Eddie and my second Festival experience. All in all this clinic was a lot calmer and better organized than last year's. We had a better tent facility than before and the weather was a bit cooler. Our staff consisted of doctors, medical students, nurses, our clinic staff and at least 10 volunteers.
Newly married Paulina in Reception
A campaign of this size involves a system and ours seemed to work pretty well. We used sheets to cordon off consulting rooms for the doctors and I provided them with a formulary of the medications we had available to prescribe. We also had a treatment area for injections and I.V.s . We kept the reception area about 30 feet from the clinic area to reduce the number people pressing around the pharmacy work area.
Betty and Neli labeling meds
The reception volunteers got names, weight and blood pressures (and the temperatures of children) on paper (ficha), and placed the fichas in a centrally located plastic bag. The doctors came and got the fichas and called the patients and when the consult was complete brought the prescription to a box and directed the patient to spiritual care. The pharmacy workers took prescriptions out of the box, filled them and waited until the patients were prayed for, then gave instructions on taking the meds. We had placed the all medications in card-board boxes organized by classifications. We saw over 350 patients in 2 1/2 days.
Dr. Baltazar General Surgeon from Oaxaca City
Dra. Antonieta
Drs Enver and Baltazar. Med students Elijah and Edgar. May I note that these were a really great team to work with!The coolest part of the campaign for me, besides some really needy patients we saw, was working with the Mexican medical students. It was gratifying to see the medical doctors work together with the students. Somehow I was the person the students came to with questions about the meds. That was satisfying for me, I love working with the pharmacy and try to understand the actions, usages and precautions that accompany each product in my pharmacy. How I would love a job like this in the states….except it would have to be a job that let me come and go every 6 months (thank you Mira Vista!)
Dra. Dulce colaborating with Med student Jesse over patient diagnosis and care.
We closed the clinic around 5:00 o’clock. But the evening brought numerous cases of sick children, one acute abdomen (which turned our to be an ovarian cyst), and one young dancer with a very high fever (104° F). I was dressed up for the evening service but ended up changing into scrubs so that I could help put the young dancer into the shower to cool her down.
Yeseret and her parents. She came in during the evening with otitis media. She shares a birthday with our granddaughter Sarah, so I had to take her picture!
Celebration Worship!
The best part of Festival for me is the evening worship. The churches I attend in the United States worship differently. As our son Josh often says, we all have different styles and expressions that we are comfortable with. I am comfortable with the vibrant Mexican celebration style worship. I usually don’t dance too much, and it isn’t easy for me to jump up and down like they do, but I love it!
I love to be in the midst of people celebrating the glory, and the power of the Lord that has set them free from the bondage of sin and idolatry. You have to be here, walk the streets, see the children, understand the violence and hopeless to understand. Not that I doubt the same hopeless exists in the United States, but we have many diversions that help us ignore our plight.
To see the expression on the face of a young woman who realizes how she is loved by God, or a young man who is growing in his understanding of WHO God is, brings great wonder and joy to my heart. It takes me back almost 40 years when I began to make the same discoveries.
I loved watching a short Chatino woman dressed in her colorful blouse and bright yellow skirt with her long graying braid bouncing behind her as she dances, a kind of trotting dance, with her arms raised high over her head.
Chatino women
One day all tribes and people will gather at the Throne!
The Festival opens with a recognition of the many tribes and nations that are called to worship God. Last year flags from each indigenous group were carried by representatives of the group, and then someone in white carrying a banner proclaiming Jesus' name, he wore a crown and gold colored belt and rode in on a white horse. The horse was magnificent as he pranced proudly before the crowd. it was fantastic!
This year the flags were carried in by dancers in different national and indigenous groups’ costumes. The flags were rolled up as the dancers lined up across the stage. And as each one by one began to unfurl their flag, a figure dressed in black kneeling on the ground in front of them began to struggle with the dancer grasping the flag to prevent it from being displayed, pulling the flag back toward the ground.
Needless to say, there was music playing, loud and vibrant. A young woman came dancing powerfully, as if in battle, pointing at the dark figure, rebuking it. As she danced in front of each flag it was eventually released by the adversary and displayed in a most triumphant manner. So graphic was this display, it was breathtaking! I am sorry it was too dark to get a picture.
Cutting open my coconut
Those of you who have attended Bible camps, or missionary camps may have some idea of the county-fair type atmosphere that we have been living the last couple days. There has been food to buy, and t-shirts and CD’s. I bought myself a coconut, which I smothered in lime and chili and salt.
Unlike in the states the campers sleep out of doors under big tarps put out for them, on the ground. This year there were more tents than last, and I think a saw a bus converted into a motor home in the parking lot.
Chatino family
Such a variety of peoples! Different languages and styles of clothing were seen all over. The Mixteco from El Mosco were here, they are probably the most simple living group of those attending Also the Amuzgos came, with their beautifully woven dresses. The Chatino women either wear very brightly colored blouses and skirts, or simple dresses adorned by aprons.
Hey, I have gone on too long. I so wish that you could experience the sights and sounds of Festival Victoria.
If by any chance you would like to experience it, let us know. You are welcome to come and help us by counting pills or taking blood pressures next year!
Seriously!
Eddie and Leeann
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