|
|||
 |
|||
|
You are at: Our Photos / Photos from Expedition to "The End of the Earth"/ Page 2 - Medical Expedition to a Nenet fishing village |
|||
|
Medical Expedition to a Nenet fishing village
|
||
 |
||
|
We lost our way in a blizzard. |
||
 |
Early in the morning a small team of eight went further to a fishing village two hours deeper into the tundra from Somburg. This morning we woke up in a snowstorm. Our landlady predicted that the blizzard would stay for a day or more. We prayed. God is great. If it is not difficult for Him to create the universe by the word, then it is nothing for him to stop a blizzard. Just one hour later the skies above were crystal clear blue, and we had beautiful traveling weather! We loaded our medical equipment and gifts onto snowmobile sleighs, buried ourselves into malitsas (reindeer coats) and reindeer boots and took off into the tundra. | |
|
Dr. Bill in a "malitsa" coat
|
||
 |
The tundra people are very hospitable. After we arrived, they immediately invited us--complete strangers to them--inside to have some tea. An elderly lady named Julia hurried to put more fire in a wood burning stove. She placed an old teapot on the stove and occupied herself in making us breakfast. At the same time children from the village came in to see what is going on. Inside of Julia's teepee there was no furniture except for the wooden stove and two tables. One of the tables was an altar for gods and the other a dinner table. Julia did not have enough cups for the curious neighbor children and us. We were asked to have tea first before our hosts. Only during tea was there a proper time to introduce ourselves and meet one another. | |
|
Dr. Bill checks the hearing of a young Nenet boy
|
||
 |
On this tundra expedition we were able to take a general practice doctor, dentist, eyeglasses and a portable laboratory. The teepee in which we held our clinic was small and allowed us to work only in shifts. While one shift was working, the other shift enjoyed lying on reindeer skins having tea. Dr. Bob and Paul saw dental patients and those who had vision problems. Dr. Bill and Scott did medical check-ups, glucose and hemoglobin testing. | |
|
Scott does a blood test. |
||
 |
Eyeglasses were a special gift for Julia. It was literally a gift of life. The tundra people live difficult lives, and every day is a battle for survival. They sew reindeer teepees, coats, and boots in order to live the next day in this land of everlasting winter. Most of the Nenets suffer from vision problems and they often reach the point where they can't see well enough to sew anymore. We experienced great joy over and over again when our patients cried out "I can see now!" For these people "to see" truly means to LIVE! | |
|
Paul checks the vision of an elderly Nenet woman |
|
|
| To see the stories and photos in sequence click Page 3 | ||