It must be the heat that just zaps your strength here. I like to think that I paid LOTS of money to spend a month in a very expensive sauna. I think they say you're not supposed to stay in those things for more than fifteen minutes, but if a little bit is a good, more is better. Right?
It was so hot in Krosaing Pa'aim that none of us could think on Thursday. All four of us sat and stared blankly at each other as our brains tried to subtract five from ten, or add fifty to sixty. I kept telling everyone that they needed to drink more water, but then my slo-mo brain would forget about the water before my hand reached the bottle. It didn't help that we worked through lunch without a break, or that the road out to the village was so incredibly bumpy that we all had massive headaches from our brains sloshing around our skulls on the two hour drive out. Thankfully, it's the rainy season now. Everything cools off around three in the afternoon when the rainstorm comes. It's a welcome wetness.
On the plus side, we saw lots of cute little kids. Many of them still had their cards from last time, which will help when it comes time to analyze the data. I also saw lots of cute little kids with skin infections. Thankfully, I had brought Bill's emergency pharmacy with me, so I had some antibiotics to hand out. Piscey, my abundantly patient translator, did catch that I was handing out antibiotics in little baggies that had antidiarrheal instructions on them. He tried to clarify matters, but I'm not sure it worked. There were more ill kids in this village than I'd seen so far, but it is one of the poorest villages we feed. One kid had fallen out of a tree a month ago and broken his arm at the elbow. Now he's unable to flex his arm more than ten degrees. The local folk healer pulled it straight, put it in a splint, and made a poultice for him when it happened, but he hasn't seen any other medical person. There's a children's hospital in Phnom Penh that will treat him for free, but mom couldn't bring him on Thursday. She'll make arrangements for her other kids and then we'll bring him into town to the hospital next week. After waiting a month, another four days should be okay. I also saw a kid who likely has cerebral palsy. He's almost one and floppier than a newborn. He was born at home, the sixth child of this mom, and hasn't ever seen a doctor or had an immunization. It was hard to tell the mom that he'll never be a normal child. You could see how much she worries about him. It'll be very hard for her to take care of him in the village, but there's not much we can do for him except try to educate her. If anyone knows a good physical therapist, send them over!
Picture captions:
Friends don't let friends have lice! The little girls would pull out the lice and hand them to the girl in the middle. She'd mercilessly squish the lice while her friends looked for more. It builds teamwork and a spirit of cooperation.
Cute babies. The little one's hair just cracks me up. Her mom was making sure she got her fair share of the bread and milk from the nutrition truck.
To market, to market, to sell a fat pig. These poor pigs were so upset at watching the world rush by upside down. There'll be a prize for whoever can guess how many pigs are in the pig truck. They're squeallier than jellybeans in a jar.
No comments:
Post a Comment