Taking care of the children

Yesterday was an interesting day, the bulk of it spent at the hospital with four children.  Agnes, of course, could not be bothered to seek medical attention for these children, even in an emergency.  Cary and I passed her along the way, told her we were taking a few children to the hospital, and if I din't know better, I'd say she didn't have a clue as to who was who.

Hospitals here are, let's just say, an experience.  The waiting area is outside, on benches.  Masses of elderly, young mothers with sick children and a few matrons from other centers, all waiting to seek medical attention.  I had the hospital cards of two of the children from the last time, which was helpful in speeding up the process.  Being a muzungu with 4 children from an orphanage, I do believe we were elevated to the front of the waiting line.  This is how the examination went:

Dr. Makanda:  Susan...nini (what is the matter?)
Susan: look down
Me: Susan's eyes are running with thick fluid, they hurt and she is suffering from allergies.
DM:  Looks at Susan.  I am giving you drops for her.  If this does not improve in 2 weeks, she needs to see an opthamologist.  I will give her medicine for pain.
DM: Anne...nini?  Anne: nothing.
Me: Anne has been coughing, is very congested and her side hurts when she coughs.
DM: Stethoscope to Anne's chest: you have bronchitis.  I will prescribe cough medicine, antibiotics and pain killers.
DM: Lameck: nini?  Lameck: nothing
Me: Lameck is in the same boat as Anne.
DM: I prescribe the same medicines for Lameck.  This cough syrup is very good.
DM: Margaret, nini?
Margaret: My throat hurts, I feel much pain in my chest.
DM: How long has this been going on?  Stethoscope to the chest...
Margaret: 3 months.
Me: {{{{ cringe }}}
DM: You have pneumonia.  I will prescribe you penicillin.
Me: interjecting...why penicillin?  What if she is allergic?
DM: It is the best antibiotic.  After she takes one pill, you will know if she is allergic
Me: {{{ more cringing }}}
DM: She needs a jab.
Me: Of what?
DM: Something to make her better.
Me: What about worms?  One child has worms, and the signs are evident on two other children that they do too.  Will you give me medicine for the home?
DM: Looks at me, studies me for a moment, and writes out a prescription.
Me:  Thank you.  Will you make a house call to the home, please?  These children all need immunizations and all need medical attention.
DM: Laughing: no, I cannot.

I went outside to fill the prescriptions.  The 'pharmacy' is in a tiny room with a window to the outside, with a bar on it.  There is no such thing as waiting in an orderly manner.  I was surrounded by people coughing, pushing, sneezing, leaning on me, grabbing my arm - everyone jockeying for position.  UGH
As I watched the 'pharmacist' spoon pills into little plastic bags, I noticed the expiration date on the bottle of pills for deworming: 3/11/2011.  What to do, what to do....

I will call the doctor today, beg a little, then a lot, and ask him again to come in his spare time.  Money talks around here.

We got back to the home and played for the rest of the afternoon.  At 3:30, I set up my computer to skype with St.Joe.  The kids were extremely excited, all wanting position 1, 2 or 3 etc...  After several failed attempts, Sandy at St.Joe and I connected.  All of the excitement of waiting to talk with their pen pals, however, immediately turned to shyness.  This was quite a difficult concept for the children to understand.  They all went mute!  The younger ones who demanded to speak first ran out into the yard, perplexed and confused.  Some of the older ones looked horrified and didn't understand.  Add the delay time of skyping between the US and Kenya, things were confusing.  I hope our friends at St. Joe weren't terribly disappointed.