Wednesday, April 26 - Day 26
[Note from the future: This entry includes description of an injury and wound care.]
A sign on the admissions window in Dodowa Hospital reads:
HEALTH ALERT
Cholera
Outbreak in the
Greater Accra
Region
Mama Jane warned us of this outbreak two weeks ago before she left for America, imploring us to keep the kids safe from it.
How do I know what the sign in Dodowa Hospital reads? Because I, like the sign, am in Dodowa Hospital right now. I was prepared for a standard afternoon at the orphanage when Justice came to me about his toe. Last I had noticed, he and another boy had been biking around the open middle area of the compound. It’s a big enough space for dancing or playing, but very small for biking. Now, I was sitting with a feverish Mercy (lower-grade than yesterday, in good news) on the usual front table when Justice approached. The toenail on his littlest left toe had been almost entirely separated from his toe, along with a fair chunk of skin surrounding the toenail. I sat him down with instructions not to move and headed for the medical cabinet. I told Zach that a hospital trip was in order as I rummaged for appropriate gauze. He helped me find tape, some generic version of basic Scotch tape. Incredibly grateful for extensive first-aid training, I used the gauze to wrap the affected toe to keep it clean and keep the toenail attached then had Justice help tape around that and the neighboring toe to secure the gauze. Thank you, American Red Cross, for giving me the skills to bandage temporarily an orphan’s severely injured toe in non-urban Africa with only gauze and scotch tape.
The rest of today-thus-far has been less eventful than the toe incident. Sarah, Sophie, Niki, and Emily left shortly after 5:30 this morning for their African safari in Mole (MOHL-a), leaving Jackie, Zach, and I in charge of everything for the next five days. This made the morning pre-school routine more intense and hectic. I served food and Jackie distributed vitamins. She gave lots of pink-eye and some other medicine; I gave some medicine and bandaged a couple of small infection-high-risk open wounds. Happily, I still got to help the littlest ones get dressed with Ma when I first arrived. I also got to carry Beauty and Godwyn to the bus stop. Four of the older boys caught the bus only by running as it was about to depart. Another four missed the bus. Famous had been helping Jackie, but the other three had no legitimate excuse so Jackie and I told them that they needed to walk. Famous, who has been withdrawn and upset since Claire (his sponsor) left, immediately turned to head home. The other three made as if to walk to school but skipped and were at the orphanage when we arrived in the afternoon. I find it infuriating that there are few to no repercussions for missing school, yet children who do attend can be caned or spanked for minor infractions. The culture surrounding education here has so much potential to be stronger and more positive.
-----
Got electronics? Want to discover the fun features on your iPod or phone that you never knew existed? Ask an orphan. Our kids, after a single year of exposure to Western technology through volunteers, are as tech-savvy with small electronics as any I’ve ever met. They may not know how to open a new file in Word on a computer (they learn the steps through screenshots in ICT - Information Communication Technology - in school), but Bismark found a planes, parachutes, and tank game on my iPod in about five seconds flat. I had no idea it existed. Reassuringly, three or four other volunteers have already expressed shock at the things the kids have discovered their technology can do. Youthful exploration has its benefits.
No comments:
Post a Comment