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| Hansen's disease (Leprosy) |
Another very interesting clinic at Bamba this past week. I can hardly believe I saw what I saw myself. There were twenty patients waiting when we arrived after our two hour drive. I saw 23 and, as is usual, the last were the sickest. This man was #22. He'd been sick for five years and had been seen at the government hospital to no avail. He was losing the toes on his left foot and couldn't close his left eye. His right hand had contractures of two fingers and his limbs had no feeling...the numbness of Hansen's disease that attacks the nerves. Other patients had cancer of the prostate and cervix, elephantiasis caused by filariasis, a 10 year old boy with such bad heart disease his chest was thumping, a 60 year old woman who also had a thumping chest because her high blood pressure had ruined her heart and two men who had had strokes because of high blood pressure. We are trying to hire a clinical officer to see patients on a daily basis. Currently Sr. Veronicah goes once a week and I go once a month.
Now, notice the small woman standing next to the man. Her name is Tecla and she is my new translator and assistant. Sr. Veronicah has a passion for helping people in need and I told her that I needed someone who speaks Giriama because so many of these people don't speak Swahili. Both Tecla and I were in need. Sr. Veronicah knew Tecla had been working in a little store seven days a week from sunrise to sunset. She is 24 years old but is a dwarf. Veronicah decided to give her a chance and see how she would work out. She is one of the best assistants I have ever had...bright, kind, sensible and eager to learn. We are paying her a better salary than the store and she doesn't have to work 84 hours a week!
I have also accepted elder status this week as I drove through a busy market trying to find my way out. The road was blocked at several corners and the young men all called me grandma and encouraged me to drive around the obstacles!
The local economy on the coast is destroyed because all the tourists have left due to insecurity. 7000 people have lost their jobs in the tourist industry and one shop owner downtown said she can go for a whole week without selling anything. While I was waiting in the long line to cross the ferry one of the young men who sells trinkets to the people waiting in their cars greeted me. I rarely buy anything but he likes to say hi. He noticed that my shoes were getting worn and asked if he could have them for his wife when I was through with them...he called it 'booking' and asked me to put him first on the list! I told him there were no other names on the list and bought two rosaries from him...my small contribution to assisting the local economy.
The insecurity is real. Two young men arrested with huge bombs hidden in their cars are in the local prison. The bombs were exploded by police in Shanzu, about 12 miles away, and the tremors were felt here in the city. Those were big bombs and would have killed many people if they'd succeeded. The two men almost escaped from the prison with the help of a police officer who had been paid billions of shillings to get them out. Now the judges go to the prison for their trial as they are too dangerous to take to court...or the system is too corrupt to manage them properly. And corruption is the key word. Last week a young man who is a volunteer at the Cathedral walked a block down the street to buy some bread. The police picked him up and threw him in jail because he didn't have his ID on him. So the priest had to go down and pay money to get him out. The police make a lot of money picking on little people who are just going about their daily business while the big people buy their way to cause real trouble.
The insecurity is real. Two young men arrested with huge bombs hidden in their cars are in the local prison. The bombs were exploded by police in Shanzu, about 12 miles away, and the tremors were felt here in the city. Those were big bombs and would have killed many people if they'd succeeded. The two men almost escaped from the prison with the help of a police officer who had been paid billions of shillings to get them out. Now the judges go to the prison for their trial as they are too dangerous to take to court...or the system is too corrupt to manage them properly. And corruption is the key word. Last week a young man who is a volunteer at the Cathedral walked a block down the street to buy some bread. The police picked him up and threw him in jail because he didn't have his ID on him. So the priest had to go down and pay money to get him out. The police make a lot of money picking on little people who are just going about their daily business while the big people buy their way to cause real trouble.
Today is Madaraka (Responsibility) Day...the day that Kenya received freedom for internal governance from the British. Since it falls on a Sunday we will have a holiday on Monday making it a three day weekend. The skies are overcast and hopefully some rain will fall for the farmers.
PEACE OF THOSE HARDWORKING RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE TO YOU!!!
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