The Jungle (Karen) Hospital

The Jungle (Karen) Hospital

After teaching the Soldiers, Alora and I went to go check on Emily and Grace who were sick. As we walked up the stairs we hear Grace say, “How do I clean up this throw up?” I looked at Alora, our nurse on the missions trip, and told her, “It’s all you.” I can’t deal with throw up – like at all. So then I threw up because they were throwing up because I literally can’t deal with it. I felt bad, but Alora kicked into nurse mode and was literally amazing at staying calm and keeping everyone alive.

We then decided that they should go to the hospital to check their temperatures. The Karen Hospital was literally behind our hut and it was basically one room in itself. Alora stayed with them and I walked back up and down the mountain to go get Pastor Wayne where he was teaching. After I found him, we went back up and down the mountain to the Hospital. Nobody was there but a different nurse and told us that they went back to our own hut.

By this time I was just completely exhausted and could barely even walk straight. Pastor Wayne insisted I stay at the hospital to get help while he went to check on the girls. Nice (a Karen guy I work with) helped me up on the bed made out of bamboo. I felt like my whole body was just spinning in circles. Nice came over and handed me the thermometer to take my temperature. I put it in my mouth under my tongue and that’s when I almost jumped out of bed.

“YYYYUUUUCCCCKKKK!” I screamed. At the same time Nice yelled, “NOOO!” Spitting and wiping my tongue with my hands, I was trying so hard to get that taste out of my mouth. “What in the world just happened?” were my first thoughts. Nice said, “You’re supposed to put the thermometer under your armpit.” That explained the taste. I just put Emily’s and Grace’s B.O. in my mouth and it definitely tastes one hundred times worse than it smells. I know that it’s a hospital in the jungle, but they aren’t getting a five star rating from me because they didn’t clean the thermometer.

After she cleaned it, and me wiping it on my dress several time to make sure it was somewhat tasteless, the nurse came over a while later and told me I had a 101°F temperature. I knew it was higher than that for I didn’t really have it under my armpit all the way and I just took Tylenol two hours before. I crawled out of bed and Nice helped me back to the hut where the rest of the girls were. That’s when Pastor Wayne decided we needed to be in AC in order to get better. I really wanted to stay in the jungle but Pastor Wayne insisted we head back across the river for our health was way more important.

Looking back on this incident, I was pretty much out of it and not thinking right so I’m thankful for Pastor Wayne and Alora taking care of us all. Who knows where we would be without their help. That was quite an experience and a taste I will never forget!

*I took this picture because I loved the trees not knowing that behind them was the Hospital.