Friday afternoons are dental screening days for the HVDs (High Value Detainees) on Compound 5.
We morphed our exam routine from congregating in a dusty visitation room, to setting up an operatory in the DMC (Detainee Medical Center), to simply walking out into the cell blocks and meeting our patients in person... on their own turf. Very easy to do!
We morphed our exam routine from congregating in a dusty visitation room, to setting up an operatory in the DMC (Detainee Medical Center), to simply walking out into the cell blocks and meeting our patients in person... on their own turf. Very easy to do!
Unlike the main detainee TIF with its 3,500 "wild 'n crazy" inmates, Compound 5 is quite sedate and peaceful and only houses about 40 people...
Here is the play area (used during family visitation) on C5... see Mickey on the T-wall and COL Shull, our deputy commander, having fun on the swing during a recent visit to Cropper..
Most visits garner some form of gift-giving from our C5 patients. Though awkward at first, I've learned to be gracious and let our patients know I appreciate their kindness. For many of them, gift giving goes beyond basic Arabic tradition--it allows them a chance to express a sense of humanity and compassion, even within prison walls.
Here's one visit's worth of goodies from a dental screening trip... the pink chocolate is from the former Foreign Minister of Iraq. Awal juices and milk come from the Kingdom of Bahrain... and are most popular in the Army!
Here's one visit's worth of goodies from a dental screening trip... the pink chocolate is from the former Foreign Minister of Iraq. Awal juices and milk come from the Kingdom of Bahrain... and are most popular in the Army!
This patient, a Baghdad University professor, always gives out "big" candy bars... it's like Halloween every week!
One kind soul braided a key chain with military 550 cord... another shared a flower from his garden... yet another offered fresh baklava brought to him during a recent family visit. It was really good!
With warmer weather comes ripening vegetables from our patients' gardens... the growing season in Iraq tends to be from October to May in the Baghdad area. Each cell block has yard space which inmates use for sports, hanging laundry, growing gardens or doing other projects to keep occupied and pass time constructively. Below, you see mint (popular ingredient for chai tea in the Middle East), peppers and tomatoes. This lot was grown by former 4-star general and head of Saddam's Republican Guard... turning swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4).
