Continuation of the Boda Crisis

Lyndsay here

Tuesday morning we went to spend time at Bushika clinic, about a 20 minute walk from our guesthouse, which has a maternity ward, in hopes of seeing a baby be born, no such luck :( We then spent the afternoon at the FIMRC clinic where we were going to do a teaching session for the Community Health Educators (CHE's). We had a patient, 2 week old male, with an infected umbilicus stump and an abscess on his back. He had been hospitalized at Bududa Hospital (the local hospital) for a few days, had been receiving a cocktail of 3 different IV antibiotics, and was not improving. This was due to the fact that there had been no cleaning or drainage done of the abscess whatsoever since he was hospitalized. With my extreme love for pus, (a well known fact amidst my Cardinal Glennon co-workers) we were on top of it! There was an incision made in the babies back already, that was draining copious amounts of pus with every cry. The dressing in place from the hospital was filthy, and the parents told us it had not been changed the entire time they were at the hospital. The baby was fussy, difficult to console, had cellulitis and staph scalded skin in addition the abscess. This poor baby was mere moments away from going septic, and so lucky to have concerned parents who took him from the hospital and brought him to our clinic. After some sweet ease and a very thorough washout, we referred the family to Mbale Regional Hospital for further care, a much more capable facility. It broke my heart to see a baby so sick, despite the parent's attempts to care for him. So many people here put health care off until the last minute, it is sad to see that even when an effort is made, proper health care is still not given. This is one of the reasons why education is SO CRUCIAL here.

During the rest of the afternoon, we spent our time preparing supplies for our teaching session to the CHE's. We taught them about RUMPS, Re-useable Menstrual Pads. We cut supplies from old socks, towels, and sheets, and instructed the CHE's on how to construct re-useable menstrual pads. We gave each CHE supplies to make two menstrual pads so they could take the supplies into their communities and teach girls and women how to make the pads. If you show a few small pieces of fabric together, and insert an absorbent fabric such as pieces of an old towel, or old sock, it becomes a pad that you can easily wash and re-use everyday. Tie short string to each side, and you can easily tie and attach it to a pair of underwear. We emphasized the important points during teaching that RUMPS are less expensive than pads or tampons (they call them tampoons here), they are more hygienic than using toilet paper or a dirty rag, they allow women more flexibility to carry on with everyday activities, and they cut down on waste. There is a mixed number of men and women in the CHE group, and the men were anything but comfortable during this teaching, however Richard's animated translating made it quite the fun experience. There are no boundaries in Uganda when discussing such topics, far different from how a similar situation would be in the US. 

Today, we spent the day at Bupoto clinic, run by the Arlington School, where Doug and Lisa will be taking over and reworking starting in October. It was quite the trip, due to the even more remote and more mountainous location than where we are now. I have been carrying a black cloud of boda karma since we got here, boda running out of gas, boda breaking down, boda running out of gas, boda getting lost from the group, boda with a flat tire, boda emitting smoke from the engine, boa running out of gas, boda getting stuck in the mud, did I mention boda running out of gas? It has been the running joke who gets stuck on a boda with me now every time we leave. Douglas rode with me this morning, and big surprise, our boda ran out of gas. After walking about 30 minutes trying to catch up with the others, Michelle called and sent a boda to find us, 2 muzungus, walking throughout the villages of Uganda, a walk that would have otherwise taken over an hour, there we were boda-less..story of my life. 

We had been awaiting a call from James or Moses, two employees at Bushika clinic, who were under strict instructions to call us the moment any laboring mothers presented so we could witness a birth Uganda style. Go figure they call us today while we were in Bupoto, 2 hours away, by the time we made it to the clinic tonight, the baby had been born literally 2 minutes before we arrived. People were looking at us like we were crazy, 5 muzungus on boda bodas in the middle of the night, pitch black, no street lights, then sprinting uphill to the clinic to see this baby. We rush into the room, the mother laying legs apart, blood and fluids everywhere, covered in a mere scarf, her newborn baby on her chest. She is laying on a metal bed, the only thing between her and the cold surface is a black garbage bag. No pain medications, no IV fluids given. Moses, the nurse, who also birthed the baby, gave her a shot of pain medication in her butt before delivering her placenta, that was it. The women did not as much as shed a tear. The baby was quickly wrapped in scarves and blankets, the mother cleansed merely with another scarf and some water into a metal bowl that caught the placenta, blood, and dirty water. Moses used her old dress to clean the bed off. Another scarf was placed between the new mother's legs as a "pad", she stood up to put underwear on (literally minutes after birth), put on her dress, and was to be moved to a bed for the night to be monitored for 24 hours, then to be sent home. Kristen was the first person to hold the baby after being born, and we joked with Moses and the mother that the baby was lucky to see 5 muzungoes right after birth, though Kristen was worried about imprinting by holding the baby first, didn't want him to get the wrong idea, though I think the blonde hair and blue eyes may have given it away already. We eagerly anticipate the next phone call and hope to witness more of the birthing process before we head home.

Oh the things you will do when you have to be resourceful. Re-useable menstrual pads made from bed sheets, old towels, and socks.

Kristen & Ashraaf, the son of our housekeeper, and soon to be son of Kristen's.

Michelle and Musa, the HIV counselor at the clinic. Hands down sweetest guy in the world.

Derek, one of the kids I'm obsessed with that lives by the clinic

After our RUMPS teaching, Musa, Leenisha, Richard, Michelle, Wilson, Kristen and I