Another clinic, today in Bugata, a school of reportedly another 500 or so children . Today I worked on skin - probably the most physically demanding of all the jobs. Each class lines up, to be told to "osshamagushi" ( or something like that ) - basically " wash your feet" , in bowls of water in front of 6 or 7 nurses. We inspect their feet for imbedded thorns - I got a huge one out today, to my evident satisfaction, which my poor child patient found very funny. We look for ringworm, scabies, tinea, pretty much anything unusual on their feet, hands, scalp and anywhere a else we can see. Many of these children have half a shoe, and the children whose families were a bit more wealthy were immediately apparent from their feet- those with no, or poor shoes had scars, thorns, burns, athlete's foot, verrucas... Those we referred to our consultant nurses, the others we dressed what we could, and sent them off to play.
One child had a shoe that was flapping in the wind, the sole completely separated from the main shoe, and terrible feet. Di and Sophie, two of our nurses, ingeniously repaired his shoe with compression bandages, staples, twine and scissors.
It's quite emotional, being here. Sitting on the bus in the morning, driving along a red dirt road, through endless fields of poor crops that have been starved of rain until the last few days, the true magnitude of the landscape is difficult to describe. The fields are ploughed as they have been forever, with two oxen , driven by a man or woman or child, under the hot sun, who will stop and wave at us, smiling broadly as if there was nothing wrong with the world. The children run down to the road and squeal with excitement, jumping up and down, waving madly. Every shack has a family, brightly clad, who smile and wave.
We arrive at a school and are mobbed by children, so excited to see us. The teachers proudly show us their offices (one office looked like Dumbledore's Study it was so full of dusty exercise books),we are asked to sign the visitor's books, have our pictures taken . It is hugely humbling. It is a world so different from our own, it's almost impossible to believe that it coexists with our gadget , wealth, power driven lives back at home.
What we are doing here, really, truly makes a difference. Everything we do, everything we find, is logged by us, and analysed by the local health officials. If we find Malaria- the government spends more in this area for malaria. If we find Schistosomiasis, the government looks into how it can be can be prevented. We did some cervical screening, thanks to our nurse who specialises in sexual health. This may mean the government sends someone out here to screen regularly. It is inspiring.
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