It's just so different

So Mel and I have been hospital hopping for the last few days. On Monday we went to the "nicer" public hospital with the youth group to take food and presents to the kiddos there. It was so hard to see how these hospitals work. We walked in to the pedia ward and there was at least 12 beds in that small room. Then there were two other rooms joined to it and each of those had about 4 more beds. There was no air conditioning, no oxygen and suction connected to the walls, no clean sheets, and not even nice beds. It's just...not ok. There's really no point in going to the hospital here if you have to go to the public hospital. You honestly just get sicker. We asked around and figured out why some of the kids were in there. One little girl had kidney failure. Now this means that, if she is indeed going to receive a new kidney soon, then she's on immunosuppressants so that she doesn't reject the donor kidney. And in the bed next to her? A boy with pneumonia. Great. I just can't believe that this is how the hospital is. But the problem with all of this is that this wasn't near as bad as the other hospital we went to. I'll post pictures soon but today we went to visit the other public hospital to visit 2 moms who delivered there recently. We walked into the OB Ward and Mel and I honestly stopped for a second and looked at each other like "what the heck?" There were AT LEAST 3 moms/babies to a bed and the place was packed. Where there was maybe 30 beds there were around 90 babies. One baby started crying and it triggered about 5 other ones. It's so hard to see this reality. It makes me so mad! And on top of all of this there were only 3 nurses at the nursing station there. So, 30 patients per nurse. We saw research that having more than 7 patients per nurse is risky enough for medical mistakes! Wow. Just wow. We're really happy that the clinic uses the private hospitals. Three patients per room, one per bed. It's an amazing difference.

More differences--- today we went on the house visits with MayMay to visit more moms who gave birth at the clinic. This was to see if the patients enjoyed their experience, had any suggestions, would deliver there again etc. Melissa got to ride her first trike! It was awesome. It was just so interesting to see how these people live. I mean obviously we're reaching out to those in need, those who don't have the money to pay for a good hospital to deliver their baby. The houses we saw today were probly the size of my bathroom back at home. Two had a mom, dad, and 2 babies living it; another had a mom, dad, 3 kids, and a baby. It's just so crazy to see this whole different world than mine. And...they were happy. The moms were so happy to have us come see them. They were so happy to have their baby in their arms. It's just...so different.

A couple of observations so far:

1. Medical students have to wear ALL white. But black underwear are perfectly acceptable.

2. Making a U turn from the far right lane? Sure, why not.

3. Those while and yellow lines on streets to help control traffic? That's exactly what they are- just lines. Maybe considered guidelines, but possibly not even that.

4. Bananas are not the same.

5. McDonald's delivers.

6. Power outages can be followed on Twitter.

7. You're more likely to see a DVD before it even comes out in theaters.

8. The pirated video store will text you when they get more stock in.

9. If you're 12 and your dad tells you to go buy him some alcohol you're totally allowed.

10. Privacy doesn't really exist.

11. If you can find a place with AirCon stay there all day.

12. Highlights, hair cut, manicure, pedicure, permanent straightening, and possible massage- it all comes in a package for about 40 bucks.

13. Pedestrians do NOT have the right-a-way.

14. No worries- everybody has a facebook and they all love Twilight. It's like being back at home.

More to come as I notice them! :D Love you guys! Keep up the prayers!