Be Prepared - Part 1

Be prepared. That’s the girl scouts moto. It’s a shame I was never a girl scout as I could have done with being prepared this week.

On Thursday I started off my morning down at the clinic. Here I saw a number of babies who had been brought by their mothers and grandmothers to attend the feeding programme and get their weekly supply of milk and grocery’s. I treated a handful of children with chest infections and malaria and the morning went by quickly. At 11am Keren, the Social Worker asked if I would be able to come to the village with them to see a child. Keren and her team wanted to assess the home situation where they knew a child with special needs was living and whilst there thought that I could medically check the child over. Here at GSF we live in amongst the villages and often ‘pop’ to the surrounding villages for a number of varying reasons each week. I was keen to go, as I love getting out and about into the local areas so I locked up the clinic and hopped in the van. We then drove…and drove….and drove. We were not going to a local village!

The van drove into the forest. When it stopped I realised my first mistake. I was not prepared – I did not have the correct footwear on. I was informed that the van could not drive to the house, as it was deep in the jungle so we would have to walk. There I was in my pink crocs, which I had thrown on in the morning to mooch about GSF in and then found myself trekking in the jungle! We walked and climbed and slipped up and down step inclines, over streams and in and out of tiny paths through the trees (all the time praying that I wouldn’t get any jiggers in my feet!). I was having a bit of a jolly to be honest and very much enjoying my adventure until I noticed that the two Social Workers I was with did not look as though they were having quite as much fun as me.  I enquired what was wrong as they looked very nervous and our new SW who has come from the big smoke in Kampala replied that she was frightened of the forest. I asked her if this was because she had never been deep into the villages having lived in the city all her life. She replied quite clearly that it was not that but because the cannibals live in the forest and might come and eat us!!! Slightly taken aback I tried not to think about this too much and spent the next 15 mins trying to work out if I should politely smile at the locals we were passing or whether I should totally avoid their gaze! Another mistake – do not ask if you are not prepared for all possibilities of answers!

We reached the hut (unscathed!). There we found the family we were looking for. A grandmother who was caring for her daughter’s two children.  They were living in a simple hut and cooking outside on a fire in a makeshift cooking area. Here I assessed the 6 year old who has severe learning difficulties and malnutrition. She weighed 7 kgs and we initiated them onto the feeding programme. Whilst we were with them a number of other families appeared with their babies and children looking for help and answers to their problems. Third lesson – be prepared to disappoint. This was a hard decision but between the SW’s and myself we had to ‘choose’ whom we thought we would be able to help and those for whom there was little we could do. Feeling like the bad guys we were preparing to leave when I noticed the 7 year old sister of the girl we had initially assessed. She was beautiful and staring at us with an enormous smile. I put out my hand to shake hers when I noticed an injury to her right hand. We were told the story of how she was helping the grandmother to cook and the kettle handle broke burning all the fingers and the back of her right hand. This had happened in April and she had never been taken for medical treatment as they were too far from the hospital and the medical costs were too high. Her fingers were now partially healed fused together and bent so that her dominant hand was now unable to be used. Peace was now leaning how to do daily tasks with her left hand and was actually very keen to show us all that she could do. I knew that I could not walk away without doing something. I gave Peace some Paracetamol. Yes, I know this would actually not have made much difference 6 months down the line but as a ‘Nurse’ I needed to help. It looked so awful and Paracetamol was all I had in my bag! Fourth lesson – be prepared to have to act on something when your conscience and heart is stirred. I have seen a fair few things since being in Africa and not that I want to gloat or be ‘tough’, generally I can walk away and not take work home with me. However, I knew in my heart as soon as I saw Peace that I should action this problem. On the spot I informed the SW that we would fix this problem. I would supply all the funding needed to get Peace to a hospital in Kampala to have plastic surgery on her hand. As we walked away I started to form the email in my head that I would have to send to my supporters after promising money that I did not have.

We got back in the van after a fast, hot and nervous walk back through the forest! We had no water. No-one had expected our journey to take us so far out and we had nothing to drink We started to drive and Keren said we had to call in on another family who they were trying to help. As we were in that area it made sense to visit them also. We drove a long way and eventually after a few wrong turns found the area we needed. The SW’s conducted an interview with a family there and I got to meet lots of beautiful children who were amazed by meeting a ‘Muzungu’! We prepared to leave and I waved to lots of smiling faces. As we returned to the van I was reminded again that I had not been prepared for this trip. Never wear a white t-shirt when going to the villages. The orange soil here stains everything!!

We drove home, on the way stopping back at the local hospital to collect a grandmother and her twin grandchildren who we would drop home. I volunteered to hold one of the scrummy babies and got a sharp reminder that nappies are not used here. I have been advised that when holding a baby at the first sound/feeling of them wetting you have to be prepared to hold them over the floor so that they can finish their business there and not on you! I was not quick enough much to the amusement of the others in the van as it looked as though I had wet myself!! I was pleased to get back and eat some very late lunch, have a drink and go over all I had seen that day.

Moral of the story part 1 – always be prepared for any eventuality and never, ever in Africa believe that you are being taken on a quick anything!

Peace