Clinic Days at Nigeze

Nigeze is another area of Mwanza Region, just outside of Mwanza Town.  We did two clinics here on a Friday and a Monday.  Pastor Julius who is the Pastor of the church that we held our clinic in is a wonderful man who speaks very good english and acted as one of our primary translators at the clinic.  His wife Susanna came to our rescue on the Friday when we had an apparent communication breakdown with our hotel!  We always ordered "lunch to go"and had been getting the same thing every day but thought we'd change things up today.  What we ended up with was a very odd (and curdled) looking piece of cheese for lunch...just a hunk of cheese in a tin container.  Needless to say, we were a little hesitant to eat it and so Susanna arrived to the clinic, having made us rice cakes and these donut-like treats.  We were so grateful!

In Nigeze we saw many more women and children again...and also quite a few older men, including one very dehydrated man that we provided oral rehydration to.  I don't have the number of people recorded that we saw on the Friday but I do know that on the Monday we saw 225.  There are certainly a few stories that stick out in my mind and I will share them with you...

Rose is pictured above, with one of our Nurses, Sheri.  I was in triage at Nigeze when Rose walked in on the Friday.  She appeared very weak, having difficulty walking and breathing.  I took her hand to greet her with "Shikamoo", the traditional greeting to an elder, and as soon as our skin touched I was floored at how hot she was!  We didn't have thermometers with us, fever assessments are a touch to the skin...and there was no denying this woman had an incredibly high fever and was very, very sick.  I took her immediately to Dr. Mukulla and as he and Sheri assessed her further they discovered that she actually had had an operation for a brain tumour.  As they investigated her wound area, they found a clearly infected area and she also tested positive for malaria.  She had obvious re-growth of the tumour and while there was nothing we could do in that area, we were able to provide her with antibiotics and re-dress her wound site and have her come back on the Monday.

On Monday, she came and went without me realizing it!  As it turned out though, a mistake had been made and all of our dressing supplies had been given to her instead of a just a few of the packages.  So...I had to go retrieve some of them ):  I asked Pastor Julius how to get to Rose's home and he said, "you must be a good jumper!".  I learned the reason why as I traveled with one of the young men from the church, across rocks and a stream, up the path to Rose's home.  I was absolutely delighted when I saw her because I saw a woman with increased energy and no fever and she was just so excited to see me!  She was incredibly gracious to return some of the dressing supplies she had been given.  She also introduced me to her son and his family that were present.  Rose was a success story! and she is one story that I will remember with gratitude from this trip.  The reality is, she will likely die of this tumour and it won't be a pleasant death.  She will not have the advantage of palliative care and medication to decrease the pain and discomfort of the dying process.

The story of Pendu is a heartbreaking story.  In some ways she represents the story of many women across Africa.  Pendu is in her mid to late 20's.  Both of her parents have died.  Her two children have died.  She has been divorced from her second husband and she is suffering from a sexually transmitted disease.  She is all alone and she is grieving the loss of so many people.  Her tears flowed as we talked together with Edah and continued as I had the opportunity to pray for her, with Pastor Julius translating.  I rarely have seen such sadness...it was a similar sadness to the young boy Peter I wrote about earlier.  She recently started attending the church that we were in for the clinic and as I prayed with her, I prayed that she would find friends there to love her and encourage her and to take away from the loneliness.  I prayed that she would know the love of Jesus and know a love that is without judgment; that she would be filled with hope.  I do pray that hope will fill her life because she is hungry for hope and hungry for love.  She has the broken heart of the mother who has lost her children and it needs healing.

One concerning discovery we had on our second day of clinic at Nigeze was that one of our Nurses had contracted malaria.  She had begun to show signs of it and after two positive malaria blood smears, it seemed obvious that she indeed had malaria.  We were thankful that the symptoms were caught early and started her on medication right away.  By the end of our time there she was fit once more and only ended up missing one full clinic day.

Some lighter stories from these days involve our transport back and forth to Nigeze.  I was working hard to learn my numbers in Swahili on the ride to Nigeze.  What I didn't realize is that people could hear me...in particular the Urafiki staff who actually speak Swahili!  All of a sudden I realized that they were giggling in the van and when I turned around, there was a row of them smiling and laughing at me!  They had actually been watching me and listening to me as I repeated the words over and over.  Apparently I was quite the entertainment! It was very encouraging though when Rehima (one of the staff) called me "pendeza" which mean smart (:

We also had such an amazing delight learning a Swahili praise song in Nigeze.  We were waiting for our van to come get us and I had asked Edah to teach me one of the songs we often heard people singing.  As she taught me, some of the other Urafiki staff joined in and then some of our team members as well and it was just an amazing experience, singing together in a new language.  We kept singing it over and over so that I wouldn't forget it and in some ways it became a little anthem of ours for the rest of our time with the Urafiki Staff and we would just break out into song in the van together.  It was fantastic!  And, best of all...I still remember it!!!

Some other shots from the day...

Triage area

A woman working on weaving a basket, just outside the church.

Dr. Mukulla and I.  A man I respect deeply.  This picture is also the classic ebony and ivory shot!  I knew I was pretty white , as in pale white, but boy!...I'm really white!!