Free Clinic Team

 At certain points when I'm explaining to my friends why I'm buried I'll say something like, "It began innocently enough, and I wasn't really interested in getting that involved . . .," and that's when they begin smiling. They smile because they've heard this story multiple times. It's like with the Food Shelf. It came around as an option and I was one of five or six people at the mosque who volunteered, and but when it came to an actual meeting I said, "OK, I'll send around an email invitation, but I'm just arranging the initial meeting and that's it. I'm way too busy to even think about getting involved. Fast forward a couple months and I'm volunteering four times a week, am on the advisory committee, and have a key to the building. Recently the mosque decided to open a free clinic and I volunteered, figuring that it would just show up to greet people at the door and sign them in. I was asked if I knew where we could get a couple tablets - and if I knew someone who could set up the clinic webpage - and I, of course, said that I worked with Techdren (our non-profit that brings laptops to Zanzibar) and . . . OK, so you can see where this is going. Now we meet every Friday evening at 5:30 to work out the intricacies of the webpage, which also requires a fair bit of editing material, and you know who is probably good at editing, probably a college professor . . . and . . . and . . . All of this is fine, of course, and I'm really enjoying the process - and setting up a free clinic is a wonderful gift to the community. I'm blessed to play even a small role. Mainly I'm laughing at myself. 

I'm telling you though, next time when I volunteer for something I'm seriously going to just attend the first meeting and that's it . . . 

I think my main job on the committee is to keep the meeting moving and to make people laugh; of course, they're probably laughing at my thought that this would stop at me greeting people at the door.