Last couple of days

So since I last wrote we have been sticking closer to Mapaki. We met with Thomas yesterday in Mayagbu and I was struck again by how destitute this community is. The thin legs, the rundown homes, there is a lassitute in this community that others don't have. I was approached by a woman asking me to help her daughter who is sick. The child was seen at the hospital by a nurse because she didn't have enough money to see the doctor. No tests were done and she was prescribed medicine for malaria.
As we chatted Thomas found out her husband was a teacher and asked for him to come to meet with Thomas in the morning. The child did not look well, very pale and thin.

So what is the problem? Well health care is supposed to be free for children under 5 years of age. Malaria is a targeted disease and testing and treatment of it should be free. But none of it was free for her. THe doctor refused to see her because she couldn't pay enough. The nurse saw her but did no tests. She had to pay for medicine that she couldn't afford becuase the medical people often have their own pharmacies that they run on the side to make money. In addition to which she had to walk 2 hours to get to the hospital in Makeni in the first place.

Our meeting with Thomas went well, Vaughn was able to help with some roofing issues they were having for the cdpeace Administrative Centre they are building. We discussed further directions for health care and I have some items ot follow up on when I return. Thomas would like to open a pharmacy in the cdpeace centre at Mayagbu and get a motorcycle to serve as a mobile delivery system to gets meds to the villages on a rotating basis. Something like this was up and running in the 80s but the infrastructure was destroyed by the war and the governement is slow to help in the rural areas. So now nurse often run out of medication and have ot take a day to travel to Makeni to purchase them with their own money which then leads them to charge patients for meds so they can recoup the cost of travel and meds.

Walking home from soccer yesterday, I was chatting with Canal, a 35 ish year old man. He showed me his wrist which he broke in a bike accident 2 weeks ago. No splint, no bandage, it was obviously swollen although not displaced. I was explaining how long it would take to heal and how resting it for a few weeks would help it heal faster. He was so surprised to hear that and I wondered that there was no first aid training for the community, the link to the nursing centre seems broken in all of these villages and the nurse provide prenatal care, immunizations and child care but other than that people rarely seek help there. Imagine how quiet our emerg would be here!

We visited the chiefs farm today. He has 150 acres that he has cleared andis farming at the border with another chiefdom, just ot establish the line firmly. He is hoping to use a combine this year to harvest the crop instead of hiring workers which he has done in the past. The system of land ownership here is very informal. It passes through the family, there are no fences, or stakes ot mark it out and if you want to make your farm bigger, go to the forest and start clearing- there it is. They grow 2 types of rice lowland in the swampy areas and upland in the higher ground. Chief said the combine for lowland rice runs on treads so it doesn't get stuck. They also practice mixed farming with many things jumbled together- benemix, maize,sorghum, and rice are often thrown together into the soil. In their gardens they grow okra, potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, pears, bananas. So much more to share but I should go.
Love to all, talk to you later.