We Feel Their Pain

So sorry that the updates are not on time; the internet was down again. Everything seems to be down all of the time. We’ve only had running water once, on the day we arrived, and since then the water has to be fetched in buckets from two giant plastic containers (the reservoir). “The bucket” is losing it’s novelty and tonight we “showered” under a gutter during the rain.

More of us seem to be succumbing to the pollution. I’ve noticed that all of the cars do not have catalytic converters. For one, the catalytic converters have precious metal in them, which can be sold, and removing them while thinning out the fuel air mixture improves gas mileage. Needless to say, while burning less fuel, they pollute the air exponentially more.

About half of us have sore throats and on-again/off-again low grade fevers. Corrinne and even Gabi have lost their voice from the constant irritation. It’s pretty amazing that the human body can in fact adjust to these conditions; we’re obviously just not used to it. Despite all, our spirits are high and we’re feeling good – if not only on the inside.

We’re learning that schedule seems to mean very little. We said we wanted to arrive at the orphanage early and have all day with the kids and somehow we still arrived at 4P - Tonight we held a meeting to map out the schedule for the rest of the trip. When we got there the kids ran out to greet us with the usual crossed arms out of respect, but they quickly turn into open arms for hugs as they’re getting used to us hugging them. They simply can’t contain their smiles!! Today was a craft/game day at the orphanage. It started to rain almost as soon as we got there so we had to go into one of the building’s multi-purpose rooms. There was very little light and since we were stuck indoors, Gabi talked to John (more on him later) about turning the generator on. The generator that they have is very old and not running properly, consuming quite a bit of fuel. They use the generator to operate the new well (refilling the reservoir at night) and to provide a little lighting (2 bulbs for an hour a night with the sun going down at 6P). Gazole (Diesel) was in short supply so Paul gave John some money to fill up.

John is one of the orphanage helpers and is about 17 years old (no known birth date). Being an orphan himself, he’s decided to stay and help with the other orphan kids in order to be a kind of big brother to them. He’s a neat selfless guy with a ready smile and bright eyes. He practices some English phrases at night in order to use them on us the next day.



So…we’re stuck in the multi-purpose room with a torrential downpour outside. With the tin roofs, the noise level exceeded that of a Billy Joel concert.We picked two games to teach the kids: Duck Duck Goose and Musical Chairs. We would first demonstrate the game and then bring the kids in. Duck Duck Goose was fun, but Musical Chairs was a hit! The game even sucked in two of the adults who about pummeled the kids in order to find their seat. Since we had no means of music we decided to assign someone the duty of clapping. What fun!

While playing, someone stepped on one of the small boy’s toes. “Stepped on” is perhaps an understatement as the end of his toe was somewhat mangled. Shannin swept him up in her arms and took him down to the infirmary (an 8’x 8’ room with a small bed, one table, and a single lantern). Shantel is the “nurse” there, and while she does the absolute best she can with what she has, it does not come close to anything that I’ve seen. Shannin held him in her arms while Shantel cleaned his toe; Maduchi screamed and cried his head off while it was cleaned and dressed using dirty water, alcohol, and a strip of gauze.

The reality of the pain and conditions of this boy’s life was more than Shannin could bear and she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Shantel was a little puzzled as, to her, this was just as it is.

The day before, Elisabeth had Asnoche (a little girl) sitting on her lap and noticed she was extremely hot (running a fever). Her toe was inflamed and feverish to the touch from an earlier injury – she had a serious infection! Beth and Shannin brought her to Shantel; she took her temperature and it was 103! Shantel thought she should just sweat it out, but the girls tried to explain to Shantel that she needed to give something to Asnoche to bring the fever down and start fighting the infection. Shantel rinsed the little girl in cold water, gave her an antibiotic pill, and then laid her down. Today we noticed that she had a high fever again and we brought her back to Shantel. Turns out that the antibiotic she had been given the day before was the only thing she had been given – Shantel is not even aware that antibiotics have to be given over a course of 7 to 10 days.

The good news is that Shantel is very eager to learn and while there is some antibiotic available to her, she doesn’t know how it should be given, and in all fairness it is virtually impossible to take care of 50 kid’s medical needs. We’re going to have a little education session with her before we go and certainly subsequent visits from any doctors we can drag out here would be a big help.

While on the walk into the orphanage one of the little boys was being taken to the hospital via bus by John because he has malaria. Poor little guy has to be just so miserable during the 5+ hour trip to get the attention he needs.While the evening was starting to wind down Father Gabriel (Gabi) asked the kids if they had any requests. One little girl mentioned that she wanted some medicine as her ear and stomach hurt; turns out that she had an ear infection from bathing in the river. The kids have so many little ailments that would put Doug or Paul in bed, but these kids remain joyful, happy, and interactive. The really sick ones are visibly lethargic, but don’t whimper or complain all that much – they are such brave little souls.

While there is hope, it is still so heart wrenching to be here and witness some of the pain that they go through on a daily basis. There are so many things that we can do to prevent some of these problems; 2 drops of alcohol in the ear after bathing in the river, improved personal hygiene, education on basic medicines, etc. We will desperately need some medical personnel on the next trip. The exciting part is that there is truly so much that we can do to help – you can make a difference! That is the hope we feel.