These two albino children are, of course, not treated too good by others. They also have many skin and eye problems. And as you can see by this picture, they are all too aware of the differences of their appearance. This little girl, Elisa, is cross-eyed in one eye, but she is able to see pretty well. The main skin problems right now are the burns, infection and fungus. We started both children on antibiotics and fungal shampoos. They were given sunscreen and a medicated cream to apply at night to help soften the skin. Mom was educated about these medications as well as the need to keep her children out of the afternoon sun and to wear long sleeves and hats. I am praying they look much better on our next follow-up at the end of this week.
This is a small boy of about 3 with a skin infection. Started him on antibiotics and antifungal pills, but by this time, we have run out of antifungal shampoo and there is no more in our area. We are hoping to find some in Dar Es Salaam this week.
There is one other story I would like to share with you, but I have no picture of this boy at this time. I am also embarrased to say that I do not even know his name. He came to the hospital at my instructions from Mfumbi just as the others did. However, his problem was a swollen left jaw. Without an exam, I was thinking tonsils or infected tooth.....Upon exam, we did not find any evidence of these problems. History was of long time swelling, hot to touch and really not much else. He was admitted to the hospital for further investigation. Unfortunately, the investigation led us to a diagnosis of HIV. The wonderful thing is that we caught it early, treatment has begun and his parents have received counseling. The bad thing is that often times, an HIV diagnosis can lead to people in this country being isolated from others. Often the one with the diagnosis is cast out of the family. This little boy is about 3 years old. He and his mother stayed at the hospital for one week. They were discharged today. I looked in on them every day while they were here and will, of course, follow up on them this next weekend. Oh, an I paid for the hospital bill. Want to guess how much it was? USD $26.00. Unbelievable!!
These are just the few stories of the children I reached out to in one small village. This past week was very busy with many, many other stories. I saw one young man of about 30 - 32 who came in with severe dehydration...so sick that he died within just a few hours. Many burns have been admitted to the hospital in the last couple of weeks. Some are very severe, third degree burns and most are children. Another big number of our cases are trauma cases from motorcycle/vehicle accidents. One young man on a motorbike hit the back of one of our PARKED cars. He lost a finger and had an open fracture of his lower leg. Today we had a young man come in with a snake bite to his right hand. And, let's not forget that in any one day, we deliver around 10 babies with unsually one or two being a C-section.
I love it here! They are in need of workers with more education. They are in need of experienced people to help educate them. Please pray with me that I will be able to accept this challenge and be a part of helping the Chimala Hospital and Mission.
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