Satellite Clinic

On Saturday, the 12th of March, a few volunteers and I went to give out medication to some of the poor villagers at a month-long ceremony going on an hour away from the clinic.  We had to dress in temple dress, which consists of a sarong, kabaya (a traditional, lacy, long sleeve shirt), and a small scarf tied around the waste.  The scarf is the most important part of the outfit because it separates the top half of the body from the lower part, a sacred division of some sort.  The kabayas, although long sleeved, are not always very modest.  Lots of some of them are made of see-through lace and all that is worn underneath is a bra.  I was surprised to see this, but it is more important for women to keep their lower half covered here.  Some women walk around with their shirts completely open, breasts exposed to the world.  Really fascinating...I don't think it would fly if I tried to do that, though.  

Before going in, we prayed.  We sat down and lit the incense we came with.  A man came around with a bowl of water and a paintbrush.  He dipped the paintbrush in the water and sprayed it at our heads three times.  Then we closed our eyes, hands in prayer position in front of our faces.  We opened them and took a flower in our hands and held that up to our foreheads, eyes closed again.  We changed out several different flowers and did the same thing.  Finally, when we finished with the third flower, we put that one in our hair.  Then a man came around with a teapot of water.  We were poured water three times into our cupped hands.  The first two times we drank the water (well, pretended to) and the third time we threw the water onto our heads.  Lastly, we stuck a little rice on our forehead, chest, and the top of our heads.

After praying, we headed off to give out medications of all types to about a hundred villagers.  The people were so beautiful, and all of the men and women looked so striking in their traditional dress.  Men wear sarongs here, too.  After the clinic, we ate lots of the temple offerings, lots of Balinese sweets and coffee.  Afterwards, I was honored to witness a Balinese dance and play that was going on.  It was a humorous play, where a man dressed a witch strutted around saying things that made everyone laugh.  I even laughed at his funny costume and gestures, even though I didn't understand what he was saying.  During the act, they sacrificed a chicken, but that was not just an act.  I've always wanted to see a chicken have it's head cut off, but there wasn't anything very exciting about it.  Swish.  The head came off without a sound.  The chicken still moved around a little bit afterwards.  I felt an appreciation for that chicken's life, and hoped the villagers were planning to eat the chicken.  I think I could easily kill my own chicken...I'd rather do that than have a factory do it for me.  I've included some photos of the temple, the clinic, and the act.

The entrance of the temple.

Some barong at the temple.

These barong were made of individual rice grains rice and peanuts,
as you can see here.

Rena, Ayu, and Toba checking and recording the blood
pressure some patients.

Other doctors at the satellite clinic.

A good view of the community center we were working in.

A man at the clinic which a HUGE gauge in his right ear.

Men all dressed up for the great performance.

Some offerings lining the outside of the temple.