Stebbins Clinic

This is the Stebbins Clinic......this clinic as well as the school is by far the nicest buildings in the village. (Kinda reminds me of Mexico with the bright colors :)

When we arrived on the gravel air strip ..... here comes this older gentleman barreling towards us with his four wheeler....he loaded all of our luggage on this little trailer he was pulling behind him and then we were supposed to "hop on behind him!!!!!!!" Are kidding me??? These fat buns can not fit on that tiny rack behind him.....but I had no choice....so I and the other nurse that is training me hopped on and held on for dear life! They have ropes on the racks so you have something to hold onto......what ever happened to safety first???

It sure was hard trying to get the children to come in for vaccinations.

You know in the Bible it talks about different tribes, where they settled and just kind of the demeanour of people? Well....this village was not unfriendly but was not friendly either.....not sure how to describe it. Some of the children that came in were not disciplined at all....one little boy hauled off and kicked me in the leg like he would a soccor ball trying to kick it from a distance to make the goal. It really hurt!! He also took our chair and slammed it twice against the desk. It was everything I could do to contain myself. If I had behaved in such a fashion I shutter to think what my mother would have done to me. OH MY....I was exhausted by the end of the day......then a child came in with his lip split open...helped hold him down while getting sewed up.....then later an 18 week pregnant very young female came in with excruciating abdominal pain that was very dehydrated..... as they were getting ready to medi-vac her....they were trying to place an IV and could not do it....I am not very good at placing IV's but the nurses at the VA in KC did teach me a few tricks so by God's grace I got one in.

I have to think of something to bring to my next village to sleep on because I flopped like a fish in my mummy sleeping bag.....all night/every night. The heavy duty one I brought to Elim got melted in the dryer so I had to bring a light weight one (good for -30 degrees)....my body just ached every day.....next time I am going to try to bring a blow up mattress! or something....the Health Department everything for us... I just did not want to haul it on the plane....I had enough junk to carry. Speaking of plane....oh my goodness Bering Air is like nothing you would believe!!!!!!!!!!!! First off NO ONE EVER checks your bags .... if you have anything dangerous...liquids NOTHING!!! AND the pilot loads all the luggage on his plan...when it is time to board for instance....the airport sits around maybe 15 or so people.....the pilot says ..... leaving for Stebbins....and calls each persons first name who is scheduled to fly (I have to book my own flights and I pick the days and time I want to travel) . There maybe only two to three people on board. I always try to sit right behind the pilot. The pilot's are so nice! I asked this one yesterday when the flight attendant was going to be coming around to get our drinks....and then a police officer sitting behind me said "yea, when are the snacks coming around"......he started laughing and said he had to bump her off back in Nome.....

It has been such a wonderful time being here!!

Oh and something else that I just can not imagine!! The librarian for the school came in to get her child shots done and we got to talking and she said that she desperately wanted her children to get to go down to the lower 48, because the things that they are supposed to teach in schools the children have NO IDEA about....she was saying that when a book talks about a "curb" or "stoplight"...these kids have NEVER seen one and that it was hard to teach about somethings when they had no idea what she was talking about. I can totally see now why people are born and die in the same place. Never venturing out because they told me they were scared to leave what they were used to and I guess would not know how to act in a different environment.

ALSO I have come realize Eskimo people HATE the "heat" an can not tolerate it....when it reaches the 60's (which does not happen very often) they say it is so hot outside! Somehow I got to talking to someone in the Stebbins village about traveling and really encouraged them to travel and I thought it was so hilarious when they told me "Well....we did go to Hawaii one time but we stayed in our Hotel the whole time because it was too hot to go outside". :)