Injections

Monday, October 06, 2008

Although I will not be able to post this entry for a few days, I wanted to get down what I experienced today for the first time while it is still fresh in my mind.

We had a late 7:30 breakfast this morning on account of the kids being done with school. Ingrid decided they deserved to sleep in. While we ate, Mario enlightened me about the upcoming day’s work. He, his son Mario and I would continue their regular circuit of the surrounding farms and give injections to pigs and cows.

Mario’s veterinary ministry covers quite a large area in and around Magdalena. He gets all of the medicine donated, so he doesn’t charge the farmers anything. He doesn’t carry vaccinations, though, because they are too expensive.

We started out within the town itself, making the rounds to women whom Mario has helped to start small businesses with chickens and pigs. Mario inspected and showed me the chicken coups they have been building. Then, we began the injections. Mario put me in charge of the vitamin B12. All of the pigs and cows received this. I had to fill the syringe with the amount he specified for each animal, help hold the animal, and then give him the syringe to inject the medicine. Mario Jr. did the same with the anti-parasite medication, and with antibiotics if necessary. Pigs can squeal very loud when they’ve got a cable around their snouts and up to 8 cc’s at a time of medication going into their necks.

When we began making our way around the outside of the town, the houses became farms, and the chickens and pigs became pigs and cows. The cows received pretty much the same treatments as the pigs, albeit in larger doses, up to 12 cc’s to a syringe. The difference here was that while Mario and a farmer held the cow, Mario Jr. and I took turns quickly doing our respective injections ourselves. I was actually expecting a little instruction prior to plunging the needle through the skin, but I guess hands-on learning is best. I quickly got the hang of it, after I stained my hands yellow.

Of course, a great deal of our time was spent visiting with the people we were serving. Mario seems to know and have time to talk with everyone in town. He spent the longest time speaking with a man who had just accepted Christ a couple weeks ago after being an alcoholic for many years.

By the time we finished with the last house, we had given injections to 35 pigs and cows for about 15 households, plus one sick dog whose owner stopped us as we were walking up the street. Then, as we exited the front gate, there were three girls standing there with two puppies, along with medication they had just purchased at the pharmacy. Mario donated a syringe, medicated the puppies, and sent them on their way. All said, then, 38 animals and about 5 miles walking in 7 hours. And by the end of the day, my new boots were feeling…quite nice, actually.

Monday nights are family nights at the Mendez home, so I finally got the formal introduction to all six kids, shared a bit about myself, understood a surprisingly significant amount of their Bible study, listened to them sing, and prayed with them for the family, the church, the ministry, and the Kingdom.