Patients waiting to see us in the Out-Patient Department of one of the clinicsWith our students we worked in 4 different rural health centers around Mayukwayukwa. Almost all of them are staffed by members of the community who have minimal training in health care. The whole time we were there, we did not see one doctor, they simply don't exist there. At the main clinic there is one enrolled nurse who works night and day. When she is not at the clinic, the housekeepers and other support staff are delivering the babies. Seriously. In our experience here we have witnessed a lot of disease and death due to the lack of proper health care. In fact while we were here, one day we ended up running a clinic..on our own! Seriously…it was just Jessica and Lianne running this thing. We were diagnosing and prescribing treatment for about 50 patients. Conditions we treated included malaria, mastitis, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, threatened abortion, dysentery, ophthalmologic conditions, splenomegally, dysentery..and many more. We diagnosed and treated patients of all ages (although mainly pediatric patients) with no diagnositic tests or laboratory tests, we didn’t even have a thermometer!
Jess drawing up a tetanus immunizationWorking as clinical instructors with our students at the Mayukwayukwa health centers involved teaching our students to operate clinics. The running of a primary health care facility is not just seeing patients in the outpatient department (similar to the emergency department). A rural clinic usually focuses on maternal child health. This means that they run programs on certain days each month to monitor the health of children and women at different stages. With our students we ran clinics for children under the age of five where we monitored the growth of the child, gave immunisations, and health talks on nutrition and common childhood ailments. The students also ran antenatal clinics where the progress of the mother and baby is monitored. The mother also receives a tetnus immunisation, malaria prophylaxis treatment, and teaching regarding healthy pregnancies. These are the three main areas in a rural setting, but anything can happen at anytime as in any health care setting!
Lianne getting ready to weigh the 200 children who came to one of our child health clinics
Our students giving a health talk to pupils at one of the schools (1000 children attend this school!)Our role was to train our nursing students so that they will one day be able to run clinics of their own. We noticed that there is a lack of critical thinking from our students and we are working to teach them to make judgement calls on their own. It is a tough job, half the time we feel like we don’t know what the right thing to do is because we don’t work in sub-saharan Africa! However, we do know how to ask questions, and the importance of reference books as well. We are shocked by how much we actually do know and have learned just by working and teaching at Lewanika. We are thankful for the training we have had at UBCO as we feel that they really did prepare us for working in all situations, anywhere in the world.
1 comment:
Okay you guys...I am sitting here in a pool of tears after reading your incredible posts on your experiences and stories of life and the current situation at Mayukwayukwa. My heart feels very heavy and the tears won’t stop coming….I can only imagine the emotions you are experiencing on an every day basis. I want to hold you in my arms and say everything is going to be alright…I want the outcomes of all your incredible efforts to be better. I know you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and I want to say encouraging words and quote incredible quotes to continue to move you through your emotions.
I look at the heart wrenching pictures of you helping those beautiful people ( here and on Facebook) and I read the incredible numbers of people who continue to need just the simplest of supports. It is a daunting thought, ever mind the daunting feeling you and the so many others who are and have been, living through this day by day. I want to scream to the privileged people in our country and say “These people need our help!!” “ Stop your friggin’ whining!!” I read this quote just yesterday and I said it over and over to myself all day yesterday and before I went to be last night….I wanted to be able to use it when appropriate….funny that I open your Blog this morning and find that I needed to use it right away. It reads: “Every Act of Love is a Work of Peace” … it is by none other than Mother Teresa. So please don’t ever give up …borrow some hope from me, from others across this globe to provide you with Hope so you may pass onto hope to those whose lives you touch…..may you continue your Acts of Love and please continue hoping that some day (it maybe not even in our lifetime) these people will have peace in what ever way that is to them. Love, Hope, Peace can mean so many things; from something right here and now to something to wish for in the future.
James E Millar Writes “A funny thing about hope is, it is something you can’t touch, but it is something you can definitely (and help others to) feel. You can’t physically see it by itself, but you can hold it and carry it. Hope doesn’t weigh anything, but it can ground you and anchor you. Hope is paradoxical. You can live under extremely adverse conditions and have a great deal of hope. You can everything seemingly going right in your life and yet have little or no hope at all. You can be dangerously ill and very hopeful at the same time. You can even be dying and have much you are looking forward to. On the other hand, you can be the picture of health and wonder if you can find the energy to hope for anything”
I want you to remember hope is not the same as wishing…wishing is passive, hope is more active…..it requires personal involvement...hoping takes effort, it remains open to all possibilities, it is not something you believe or feel or do; it involves believing, feeling and doing with your mind, your body, your heart and your soul…that is what you are doing for these people...helping them to keep their hope alive. Jess I think you used to have a quote on your Facebook page that said something to the effect that we need to be willing to get up one more time than we fall down. I’d like to add, be willing to give life one more chance, again and again. I believe with hope, whatever the outcome, we can go on.
You two are ‘mentors of hope “ for these people- you hold hope for them. I know that from the Acts of Love you have shared. I know you believe in them and hope for and with them. My hope and prayers are that your hope can be as strong as possible while you continue your journey in Africa and that you will be their Voice of Hope. So borrow hope from those around you and borrow from those of us far away…gather hope from the promises of your beliefs or use the hope you find in songs, readings, stories, movies or even dreams…borrow all the hope you want, whenever you want, for as long as you want…and remember, when you are ready we can lend it too.
A Chinese proverb that says “the one who moves a mountain begins by carrying away a small stone”, so remember Hope is not about moving mountains. It is about moving one single stone at a time…then another …and another. Hope is not about changing the world; it’s about making a difference in one part of the world. Don’t be concerned about having to make an impact on the whole mountain – do something manageable, something that’s satisfying…when you have made one small difference, you are moving those stones. …
Jess and Lianne, "May you experience deep awareness in your life this day. May you see those signs that show you are cared for and loved. May you hear those promises that say your life has unfolding meaning. And may you find in the midst all of the mystery around you, if not the experience of wonder, then at least the promise of its beginnings." (excerpt from James E Miller) And may you hold on to that promise and hold hope for them in your hearts, I am….. I love you guys…As Always, Love Mom (Ma Barker) XOXO
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