It’s been a busy few days as my time in Swaziland is winding down. It is hard to believe that 2 and a half months have already passed since my team left and I have been in Nsoko. I hear story after story of children that have lost their parents, families that can’t afford school fees and even families struggling for basic health care. What do you do? I feel like in a perfect world and if I had a never ending supply of money then I could help everyone out here. I want to be able to help all that come to me in need of something but the reality is, I just can’t do it. This past weekend I realized the need for health care in Nsoko. I have just a little training in this area but still I end up being “nurse” to those that have no where else to go. Pastor Gift tells a devestating story
( http://pastorgift.myadventures.org/ ) of a young girl that was raped by 2 family members and is now suffering with a very painful skin problem.
Then on Saturday morning I was approached by a woman from the community. She said, “Isabel, I need your help. My baby stuck his hands into boiling water.” I looked at her son’s hands. One was covered in blisters and the other was a big open burn. I did what I could with what I had around, trying to clean it and cover it from getting infected, hoping that later that same day I could take her to the clinic. We were finally able to get transport out there only to find that the nurse wasn’t at the clinic. She had left and was supposed to be returning. 3 hours later we were able to see the nurse and receive some assistance.
This was how my day went yesterday. Scott and Marcia Borg came to Nsoko mainly to bring supplies for the baby that had been burned. So we, Marcia, Pastor Gift’s wife Philile, and I went to visit this woman and her baby. After redressing the burns we went back to the center. Then I went over to check on Dudu and her family and to refil the pill boxes we have set up for her TB meds. I got there and found out that she hadn’t been taking her meds. I asked her sister why and she told me that Dudu hasn’t been able to eat and hasn’t eaten since Thursday. There is a team here now for a few days and they had some protein mixes they brought with them. We explained how those work, prayed for the family then were on our way back to the center. Not long after that I got in Pastor Gift’s car, took one of the girls from the team with me and we went to visit Mswane. I had got some different creams from Matata pharmacy maybe to just soothe the pain from her skin problem. I sat and applied this cream for at least 30 minutes. Her entire body is covered with skin that has a calloused feeling mixed with dryness and cracking. It looks painful. She is a much stronger girl than I am. I would be complaining and wanting someone to fix it and to make it go away. She lays quietly in her bed and gives out little cries when I touched the extremely painful parts of her body.
As much as I don’t want to see people in pain, yesterday I felt at home. I felt that this is what I am supposed to be doing. The reality of living out in this area is that there is a need for medically trained people. And although I am not that medically trained, I was able to use what I had been trained with to help those around me.
I apologize for the lack of photos, it is difficult to get them uploaded in a short amount of time I have. I will post photos when I am able to.
