Today was the first day back at our volunteer sites and we’d be spending every morning for the rest of the week regularly visiting. Today, pediatrics was in the clinic. The clinic is where most of the scheduled checkups happen with hospital staff, its mostly six-month and one-year checkups for children who suffer from various disorders including down syndrome, asthma, sickle cell anemia, and other children who are of concern, such as those with unusually slow growth or development. I spent the day observing these patient visits with brief intermissions where the doctor explained why she asked various questions, why different things were important, and allowed me to ask my own questions.
After our volunteer sites, we went back to the guest house and I took a walk into Scarborough and purchased roti for dinner. The walk was tranquil and perfect for contemplating the long weekend we had just returned from and all of my experiences in the past month. I watched the sun set over the water and got a taxi back to the guest house where I folded back into the chaos of everyone writing their reflections. It came much more easily for having taken the time to just stop and think and before I knew it I had written five pages.