From the journal of Sydney who has emailed us from Africa during her trip with Greatest Goal Ministries.
Thursday March 21, 2013 ……The survey……
We set out in teams of 4, 2 GGM folks, and 2
interpreters, to start our survey. Fortunately, Kevin, the map guy, was
in my group. Good thing, because I could not look at the satellite map
and have a clue where we were, much less where I was supposed to go. But
Kevin kept me on the right path, and literally, some of it was just a rocky
path. We got quite a bit done. It was really interesting talking to all
the people and very distressing to see how so many have to live. Using
bushes for toilets, getting drinking water from streams, small children having
to carry large, heavy bucket of water on their heads for long distances to
bring water to their family, whether it came from the stream or from the GUMA
pipe, (govt water supply). People talked about the cholera epidemic that
happened here last fall. They say they wash hands after toileting,
but if your toilet is a bush, where do you wash? Many of them, during the
rainy season, put out buckets and bowls and collect rainwater. No one we
talked to today said they ever treated their water before drinking. My
interpreter, Augusta, said to me, “We are suffering. We need help.”
To me, the big question is, how do we help? The problems seem so
overwhelming. But that is a question for another day, I guess.
Friday, March 22, 2013 ……….Time in the clinic………
The end of a very long and hard week. But
also, a very good week. We accomplished a lot, but it is such a drop in
the bucket. Because I have such a sunburn I did not want to be out all
day doing the survey in the hot sun, so I stayed at the clinic. My
purpose was to do some observing of how things are going, what needs
improvement, how to get better organized, etc. I started off in the
infusion room, because when I had been trying to save the dying lady, the
supplies I needed to start an IV, weren’t all there. Basic things, like
gloves. And because by that time it was a very urgent issue, people were
scrambling to get me what I needed. So, today, I searched around the
clinic to figure out where things are. We had been assured that everything
was well organized, that even tho stuff was in boxes, the boxes were all
labeled with the contents. So I started my search for gloves, and after I
had searched down keys to the different storerooms, I found 3 boxes labeled
“gloves”. The problem was, they did not contain gloves. However,
the four large boxes on a shelf I could not reach, and were not labeled, did
contain gloves. In fact, very little was labeled with what was actually
in them. TIA. So Dean, the military guy, took over and actually got
some stuff organized.
In the meantime, I was often taking care of
medical stuff. A 2 year old who had had 3-5 seizures on Wed. She
was the daughter of one of the men who has done some work around the hospital,
so I was instructed by Lynn to be the one to see her. Since she is not
actively seizing at the moment, I did not want to give her anything, and we are
not equipped to diagnose a seizure disorder. So I sent her to
Childrens. I saw a tiny, tiny 3 week old whose parents brought him in
because they said he was vomiting blood. He checked out ok so we sent him
home with instructions to go to the children’s hospital if it happened again.
We had a pt with confirmed cholera. I had to talk with her about where
they get their water, where they go to toilet (poop), hand washing, gave her
money to buy soap. They use the GUMA water, so that should be ok, but
they share a toilet with other neighbors. That unfortunately could be a
problem, and if they don’t use good hygiene there could be more cholera.
Not good.
The best part about being here always is the
kids! I love to see the precious babies in the clinic, even though my
white face sometimes scares them. I love how they come closer and closer
and some want to touch my white (now fairly red!) skin, I am fascinated by how
the moms can sling them onto their backs and with even the tiny ones that just
seem to hold on, tie the babies into the sling on their backs. When we
are out and about, they are so fun to play with, and the kids walking back and
forth to school like to slap your outstretched hands as they walk by.
Friday, March 22, 2013 ………..Dinner……..
Dinner on the beach was its usual
adventure. We had two neighboring restaurants, and as always, I use that
term lightly, competing for our business. They were literally begging us,
but we had to choose just one. After we had placed our order, barracuda
and chips for some, lobster and chips for the rest, a man approached and wanted
us to look at his arm which he said had been hurt in an accident. There
was a grimy bandage covering his arm, so Lynn said we would look at it.
She had to walk back up to the house to get the first aid kit, then she and I
took the dressing off, by flashlight, of course, and discovered a 4 inch wound
that had been sutured closed. It was a little swollen, and difficult to
evaluate in the dark. We debated taking the sutures out and draining the
wound, but decided not to at this point. I cleaned it up, covered it back
up, and Lynn stared him on antibiotics and he is supposed to see me on
Monday. Of course we had a crowd around us by this point, and everybody
now had something wrong that they wanted us to take care of. Finally we
just told them to see us at our hospital on Monday. After doing all this,
our dinners still hadn’t arrived, but it was very good when it did. All
in all, just another typical day in Africa!
