OUTREACH VISIT

AIDS patient, Elizabeth, is second from the right

Following morning tea, Jennifer P, Kathy, Cindy and Sandy went with two hospital staff (both named Faith) (the nutritionist and a nurse) and a driver to observe the hospital’s outreach palliative care service which is run by Stanley Gitani.

First they visited a 50 year old woman with AIDS (above photo). She lived in a shack smaller than most tool sheds with a bed, a mattress and bowl on the dirt floor. The mattress and blanket were gifts from the Methodist church. The home has no running water or electricity. Food is cooked over a three stone fire fuelled by twigs or coal.

The second patient they visited was a 6 year old girl who is dying from AIDS. AIDS has already taken both her parents. The older sister who was caring for her is mentally disabled and got the medications mixed up which probably allowed the HIV virus to mutate and so she may die soon. She had thrush and pneumacystic pneumonia, terribly swollen glands, and lots of other complications.

(NOTE: We brought with us about 50 cloth bags from Cokesbury Christian Bookstore and plan to fill them with beans and rice and a toy for the outreach staff to take on future visits including to these two patients if they are still alive. We are also leaving behind the bulk of the clothing we brought on this trip which hospital staff will launder and donate to needy families.)

HOMECOOKING

While they were out, the group stopped for lunch – an experience I will have to wait and let Kathy tell you about. Suffice it to say – everything about the experience was jarring. Kathy’s words: “Dark Ages, feudalism, 10th century technology.” The serving dishes (people used their hands to eat) were washed in a large bowl filled with about 2 inches of filthy brown water without detergent. Kathy did eat a little of the goat and isn’t sick (yet).