A new birth!

Day 10
Well here I am packed and ready to go! I was really starting to get into a groove at the clinic. It helps to have cooperation, I believe there are many staff members who actually enjoy what they do. Unfortunately they have little or no direction and no personal experience or education to fall back on.
I asked about the staff member who had fainted on Monday and was told she was fine however she had not returned to the clinic. After consulting Denise the clinic manager we decided to do a home visit (“visite domicile”), I needed an interpreter and another staff member decided she would like to tag along as well. So the 4 of us set off among the tents, boy it was hot! A few minutes later we were at the lady’s tent. “She’s in there!” I was told, so I pulled back the curtain and there was a new born baby on the floor barely a foot from the doorway! I guess it’s the coolest place to be.
The rest of the team was unfazed, “where is Madame F ? they asked loudly. They were advised that she was in the opposite tent and everyone turned in pursuit . Whoa! wait a minute. Ummh about the baby, I said not wanting to appear overly dramatic. I had several questions like who, what, why and when. We started to question the mother. No ,she hasn’t seen a doctor since she delivered. Yes, the baby was born in the tent. Amazingly everyone was so matter of fact, I was still stunned at this sleeping miniature person and the surreal surrounding!
I gave Mom prenatal vitamins and a lecture on the virtues of breast feeding and visiting the clinic for a check up, photos taken and onward!

Our next visit was almost at the top of the camp wow! Up and up and up! Great views of Terrain Acra. We went into a tent and a man was fixing some kind of wheel barrow-like contraption , I talked to him. He said he paints pictures he had some on display, my impression was so-so talent. I asked him about the tent : how many people in this tent , 7 he said. There is an open area in the middle of the tent where cooking is done. The latrines in this camp have no doors because people have stolen them to add to their tent space. I asked how people maintained some dignity and was told that when they go to the latrine they concoct some kind of cover.

As I followed the clinic director further into the tent I got my second shock of the day. A 57 year old paraplegic man who looked like an AIDS or TB patient. He was really cachexic (thin) and his legs went in two different directions and clearly had not moved in a long time. The skin on his legs was like something I’ve never seen before! You could count every rib! He gave me permission to post his pictures. Apparently he was paralyzed by a car accident before the earthquake but he says things got worse after that. I gave him the only thing I had, a bottle of prenatal vitamins,and advised his family members to try to do a little physical therapy. I told him he would sleep better if he was adjusted to a 45 degree angle. He seemed to appreciate that piece of advice.

I later had a discussion with the clinic manager. I suggested they have a meeting with him and his family and discuss amputation. This may be the only way for him to get on with his life, he cant use his legs and they are just going to be a major source of infection and ultimately kill him. It is not easy to suggest cutting off someone’s legs.

NEWS hot off the press:
Someone knocked on my door this evening and told me there is an outbreak of typhoid. Apparently the Ministry of Health randomly screened 15 stool samples and all tested positive. They might need even more help if this keeps up.

And finally the Corail latrine update :
The Corail camp manager met with Oxfam today and they have agreed to back pay the latrine cleaners however they are still philosophically against paying people to clean up their own waste. The compromise is to back pay but none going forward, they are going to build more latrines now so that only 5 families share a latrine. They believe this will help the people take ownership of the cleaning process. That could turn out to be a pile of S…tuff no pun intended. At least a riot was averted for now. They also handed out more food rations today but only to pregnant women, so pregnant women came out of everywhere, once again food to last2 weeks and no more.
The only down side of today is dealing with a colleague who is a pediatrician and insists on talking to me as if I am a child! It is starting to get to me but Voila! Its my last day!

As always Desiderata proves inspiration:
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
There is literally a new baby born every minute, even in Terrain Acra one can see the potential for the future that arises from every birth.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world!