If a tree falls in the woods does anyone hear it....idk, but it sure is inconvenient.

Busy day...today was the first night that we had slept through the entire night...yay! We have almost adapted to filipino time :) Which is good, however we think our bladders are still on American time...(we wake up to go to the bathroom alot during the night)
Anyways we had a busy day planned. Wendy and Sam brought the Palawano lady with leprosy to the clinic to see about her getting medicine. They were hoping that if a doctor confirmed her with leprosy maybe there was a way she could be on the right medicine without people knowing.However the doctor wasn't too experienced with leprosy so she just treated the wound. In the end we gave her some antibiotics and a tetanus shot and then brought her home.

Fallen tree tries to dampen our
adventure.

After lunch we had heard of a village near by called Sabsaban, where many people were ill. On the way it began to rain. When we were about a 1/4 mile away we came upon an obstacle, a coconut tree had fallen in the road way. So there we sat, in the truck, waiting for the rain to subside so that we could walk the rest of the way. To the left of the road was a little hut, and five kids were inside watching us as if we had landed from outer space. Finally the eldest kid began to slowly walk toward our truck. We laughed because it reminded us of that scene from Finding Nemo where the fish are trying to decide who should 'go touch the butt'. Then they noticed that there was a tree in our way and this is how their conversation went (or how we put it by watching from inside the truck ;) he he)

Three brothers tried to help us...till
they found something better to do.

"Oh, there's a tree blocking the road....Maybe we should try and move it.....Here lets bring Dad's machete.....Oh wow, this tree is bigger than I thought....Oooh, lets walk on it....Hey! Look! A Coconut!...I am kinda hungry...Well, thats enough work for today. Mom! Cut up this coconut!"

Sam with her umbrella

Sam and Ally pose in the rain with
their banana leaves.

LOL. Eventually the boys did end up helping us, they cut down banana leaves for us to use as umbrellas so we could continue the walk to the village.

Sick family :(

The kids had malaria, which
is very common in the Philippines.

People wait in line to see the nurses.

We visited a house of a family friend in the village and a line of people came to us. Wendy wrote some needed phrases that could help in asking simple medical questions, like "What is your name? What is the sickness? What are your symptoms?" etc. So Sam was able to ask all the questions and diagnose the villagers.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

This band of boys pretend to help,
while posing for a picture.

Chopping one side of the rather
large coconut tree.

But then we still had the problem of bringing all the medications to the people. So on our walk back to the truck we asked all the people along the way to come and help to move the tree. A group of 15 or so came to assist...although most were under the age of 10 and didn't do as much helping as they did posing and watching for where Allison was going to point her camera next. After 20 minutes of hardwork, from the 5 men that came along, the tree was moved and the truck was free to move about the road. Salamat Po village people!

We had accomplished quite a bit. It was, also, great being able to interact with the people. Till next time...

Guys then roll the tree away.

~Me and Her

The tree was STILL to heavy, so they
cut the other side as well.

Boys find some more food while they
help move the tree.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

These kids LOVED to have their
picture taken.