So i just wanna say, that part of the reason ive been putting off this post is i really wanted to be able to add some of the photos from the day, but that isn't possible yet so i will have to add them at a later date. Basically we were not allowed to take our cameras, so the only photos are those of the 3 official photographers. They then take those photos and submit them and they go through a whole process and we have to wait. Which is slightly sad cause i cant add them in yet, but they will be worth the wait i know that! Ive seen one set of photos, by my good friend John, (http://5rollands.blogspot.com/) and well he has an amazing talent for taking photos there is no doubting that they will be worth the wait.

So as you know i had an early start! we left the ship just after 3:30 am, it was only a short drive to the stadium where the screening was happening. I really had no idea what to expect, we had a report from someone that had been there the day before saying there were people there already. They weren't wrong, so we arrived in the pitch black on a plan as you go idea i think! When we rocked up just before 4:00am here were prob 300 people waiting there already.

There were about 15 of us in the early crew and i have to say, i sensed God peace at that time in an amazing way. There were fears that the people would push, and people would try and jump the que and stuff, but from those very first moments God presence was almost tangible to me. As we hurried about trying to set up lines and move everyone from the screening area which had ot be clear it all seemed to go without any problems.

The basic process was that everyone was pre screened in a tent outside, then if what was wrong with them was something that we could help with they would be escorted into the stadium where they would be seen by the relevant doctors and then would be given a date to come to the ship to have their surgery of whatever it was that they required.

This is a view from inside the stadium before it was set up for screening

So the location worked really well, there were 2 entrances into the stadium, so we decided that one was an entry only and the other exit only. So i think Mike (the security officer) decided that it be best to send the 2 biggest guys there to guard the exit gate! ... Yup i be one of those guys! So from about 4:30-8:30am i was posted on the gate shown below: Now we managed to work that barrier you can see on the right as you look which made it alot easier to control. The first few mins were interesting to say the least, and thankfully there weren't that many people around, and with neither me nor Dallas (the other "big guy") speaking any french it was interesting, we learnt what next entrance was, and well used that an awful lot!

Thankfully within not much time we managed to get ourselves a translator who told who what the people were saying!

So from 8:30am-1:30pm i was situated right at the front of the que. Which i have to say cause a whole mix of emotions throughout the day. What this meant is i was the last person before they patients were seen in pre screening. When one of the medical staff was free i then directed the patient in their direction. This was a great place to be from being able to see everything from a very close place. It was great to be able to see patients being refereed inside where it meant that there was a good chance they might be able to get the life changing sugary. On the other side it was so hard to see people being told that we couldn't help them. God really spoke to me that even though we couldn't help them that he was in control of all and this really comforted me in this hard time. Even just being treated well would be something totally new for some of the potential patients.

I was talking to one of the translators and he told me how you wouldn't normally see people with tumors or things that look un "normal" to most of us. This is because of the amount of abuse they would get, so they would be forced to live their lives in shame and in the shadows. So just being able to be Jesus hands and feet to them was a great privilege for me and the others who were serving at the screening day. We were able to set up a prayer zone where we offered prayer to anyone we couldn't help, for we know that for something are not possible for us, but all things are possible for God.

So by the time 1:30pm came, i was exhausted to be honest, 10 hours in outside, most of it in the heat took its toll on my, and i only had about 20mins total break in that time, so i headed back to the ship.

So on thu alone (there were more people on fri on the overflow day) we saw 1987 potential patients, if you include the family members that were there with them its estimated there were over 4000 people that attended screening day on thu alone. The total rose to 2773 after the overflow day.

There is a video that will show you more about the screening day and what happened, you should be able to access it from the following link ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prJxp346a6U