Basic Healthcare

Late afternoon we connect with the others in our groups and learn of the different journeys we have traveled today.

Julie, the nurse on our team, spent her day working in the school clinic.  She described a young boy with a terrible skin eating infection on his leg. What began as a small blister or boil, now consumed most of his shin and had destroyed the skin, muscle and was now effecting the bone. A simple to correct skin condition in the States is a limb threatening wound in Mathare.

Another young girl had an infection that likely began with a tooth or mouth injury. Now, her lips and face are badly swollen with infection and are approaching her sinus cavity and will likely spread to her brain causing a needless death if not treated. Again, relatively simple to treat at home, likely life threatening in Mathare. These children are referred to the hospital as the scope of their condition is beyond the resources of the school clinic. Many, many times the parents refuse to take the children to the hospital. It's quite a distance away and very expensive. There is no indigent care available. These families simply do not have access to the care they need and suffer greatly because of it.

Witnessing and experiencing this injustice and human suffering is nearly unbearable. We spent the balance of our car ride trying to problem solve these cases and create longer term healthcare solutions for these families.

In our discussion, we experience first-hand the difficulty of devising a long term solution. There are so many needs, so many gaps in care.  The boat is filling with water and we don't know where to begin bailing the water out to help the most.

Thankfully, the next day we heard the girl's parents took her to the hospital and she is receiving treatment. Hopefully tragedy averted!