A tribute to Lovia~

My predictions were right… Yesterday afternoon Edem called me and said he received a message in the morning that Lovia’s condition had declined. He decided we should go see her, so I jumped to the opportunity as I had bothered him about going earlier in the week and we never made it. Well we didn’t make it in time today either. He dropped me by the path to her house as he was going to visit another patient and doesn’t like to see Lovia’s wound, yet she often insists. On my way to her house, a woman came running “Oburoni, oburoni. I want to talk to you! Are you going to see that girl? She DIED this morning oh and they have already taken her body.” It makes me feel very sad like I should’ve done more yet I have been reassured that I gave her plenty through my basic support over the last two weeks, showing up to clean a wound that nobody wanted anything to do with concerning its location, as well as the organization giving her a supply of nutritional supplements and medication for palliative care. I know there was no possibility of reversing the disease and more intense treatment would have possibly just prolonged her suffering. However, I feel like a failure and let her down because during my last visit she asked if I would come back and I said, “Yes of course,” but never did. Edem pays for the coffin and funeral expenses so she is buried respectfully as some AIDS patients are treated in disgust and would just be thrown into a hole due to the stigma of their condition. I can’t believe at just 19 years old her soul has been taken. Although she acquired the disease on her own and chose to stop taking the antiretrovirals, she is not all to blame. What is the missing gap to solving the burden of AIDS? How can similar cases be prevented? Obviously the current system is broken and understanding the education is not enough. Poverty has a distinct factor. The social aspect is also prevalent. I have now witnessed the reality of what AIDS looks like at its worse. I was debating whether or not to share her personal picture online but to put a face to the name, this is the condition I met her in...

  

On the positive note, I was shown a picture of Happy after one week of critical treatment at Ho Regional Hospital. She looks so much better. She was alert, sitting, and is now eating. Her skin also appears almost healed. Praise God! Amazing what changes can be done by a small investment in children and educating the parents on proper care. I also had the pleasure of doing a quick home visit to one of the sponsored boys in the village. He is a 7 year old named Benjamin, suffering from chronic malnutrition. To me he appeared very malnourished and sick still but comparing it to the initial pictures, he has made great progress. You can tell just by looking at his face. It transitioned from pleading eyes of death to a bright smiling face!

This is a random boy who came running up to a car to hold my hand!

In the evenings when I wait for dinner, I have started joining in with the local kids in playing a pickup game of soccer or even shooting basketball which they seem to enjoy. It catches a lot of attention from adults and children passing by though to see a white girl running around. Actually, I really don’t run because I sweat just by standing! At HardtHaven, the children have taken more pictures than I have. I taught them the basics of point and shoot photography and how to take fast paced videos which they were really amused by. I find that giving them your trust and freedom really gives them joy and appreciation. The older children understand the one ‘trash’ button they are not allowed to press. I even transfer pictures to my computer periodically so I don’t risk them getting deleted. It has become my nightly ritual to go through images though and delete the many pictures that are blurry or insignificant. However there is that rare snap that is priceless! Within the community, I find it very difficult to capture natural images. One night it was really cute to see three small children sitting on a yellow water jug on top of a dirt pile while another child attached a string and pulled them down as if they were on a sled. As soon as I pulled my camera out, all the action stopped and I was instantly surrounded by 17 kids posing in front of me. 

Just playing "tro-tro driver" at HardtHaven

In being the rainy season, we had a ridiculous storm that came through. The rain disrupts all life here as it is a complete downpour. You cannot go outside in it because it actually hurts. I had opted out on going to the children’s home that day so I could work at home on some of my project documents. My plans quickly came to an end however. The power went out, my room became very dark even in midday, my outer screen door blew off the hinges, and rain came into my room creating a minor flood. This also meant mosquitoes could come in due to the increased moisture in the air and lack of a screen. Needless to say, my legs are now covered in annoying bites. I am completely reliant on my antimalarials to keep me healthy.

As far as my project goes, I ended up having a fairly productive week. My translator has been available everyday so I now have conducted 36 patient interviews. It has been interesting to see how the majority of the women in the antenatal clinic know very limited English whereas those seeking well child checkups are more educated and could for the most part communicate with me fairly well. Overall, patients are very satisfied with the current maternal and newborn health services but it has come to me that this is all they know. It is according to their standards. I can identify areas for improvement but it is a matter of determining whether or not recommendations are feasible within the cultural context. I enjoy learning from the locals how they think conditions may be improved though as this will be part of community engagement. There have been plenty of ideas ranging from the individual and local level of implementation to those requiring higher authority from the government or directors to change policies. I have wasted a lot of time waiting around in hopes that more patients or a delivery case will come. I missed three deliveries just by arriving late or being in the reproductive and child health center. Now I know of the busy days and time to arrive, and can plan accordingly to leave by noon and rather go to the office to begin working on final documents. One of the community health nurses invited me to accompany her on a home outreach day, so I am really hoping to gain this opportunity and perspective of an additional service. They follow up with patients to ensure children are growing healthy and receiving the recommended immunizations. Additionally, it is good to assess their living environment and direct care so that parental education can be provided. I plan to leave my contact this week so that they can notify me of labor cases and I can then travel to the health center to assist in the delivery/interview women after childbirth. Hopefully by next week’s update, I will have actually delivered my first baby rather than doing only the newborn care.

The first delivery case I interviewed

He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever! 2 Corinthians 9:9