Today was a typical day for me here at Lalmba. I set out early to go on outreach to the village of Angela, a newer site for us, which was a two hour drive from Chiri. Turnout was good and we gave over 200 hundred vaccines. We were there most of the day and returned to the health center around 3pm. I was sitting in my office when Faith told me that one of my favorite malnutrition patients, a little girl named Mizrat, had returned with her father for her follow-up appointment. As I have mentioned in other posts, I spend a lot of time in the malnutrition room playing with the kids and interacting with the parents. They are here from one to two weeks, depending on how bad their case is, so it gives me a god opportunity to get to know them. There was something really special about Mizrat and instantly I just adored her. When she first came to Lalmba she could barely walk, I should mention she is two and a half, and was in such bad shape that she basically couldn’t do anything but sit in her bed all day. Slowly but surely her health improved was and she became more active, walking all around the clinic with me (my version of physical therapy I guess) and began to actually interact with the world around her. When her time here ended I sadly said goodbye to her father and her, hoping they would return for follow-up so that I could see them again. Patients can live very far away, theirs is a six-hour walk, so it’s not a sure thing that they return.
I was glad to hear that they came back for their appointment but was a bit said to have missed them. Faith said they waited a bit but must have left. Bummer…..I was wondering how she was doing and if she would remember me, but I would have to be satisfied with just reading her follow-up paper work.
As I was imputing data from today’s outreach one of the clinic guards came into my office to say that my friend was here. I looked and up and wouldn’t you know—it was Mizrat!! Her father said that he really wanted to see me so they spent the afternoon in town (not sure what they could have done since there isn’t much to do here). Literally in a matter in seconds my day went from fine, to amazing. I really can’t tell you how happy it made me to see them and to be able to give her a hug and see them for a bit. I must have had the biggest smile on my face and I think I yelped with delight when I saw it was them. There happened to be another patient and her father here for malnutrition follow-up, so the four of us chatted for a bit. Something new I am starting here is to give patients who return for follow-up seeds to plant vegetables in their gardens. People here mainly grow and eat cocho and teff, plants that don’t provide enough protein or calories which causes malnutrition. While patients are here we counsel them on different foods, show them our demonstration garden and have them attend a cooking class all in hopes of teaching them about the different foods that can be grown here--carrots, beets, spinach, etc. (Unlike in the US where people often know how to prevent diseases, here surprisingly people have no idea that their diet can cause malnutrition.) I gave the fathers some seeds and tried to pick their brains on how to make the program better. While they didn’t have any criticisms of the program Mizrat’s father did have a lot to say about why it was good.
Before coming people in his town said he was crazy to bring Mizrat to Chiri as it was obvious she was going to die. No one thought she would make it and the journey would be for nothing. He came anyway and sure enough she was not only alive but doing better. When he returned home everyone was so happy and excited to see that she was in fact alive and well. He went on to describe how he learned here how to change their eating to make sure this doesn’t happen again and about other health issues that can cause illnesses such as poor sanitation, cleanliness, etc. Clearly, the health center had done a lot for Mizrat and he was tremendously grateful as he came with only 35 birr (about $3) and Lalmba paid for all of her treatment and his food while they were here. He thanked us and promised to be back for his last check-up in a few weeks.
There are moments when I wonder if the work I am doing here really matters. I can’t help but question if the communities I go to on outreach would be any different if I (or any other ex-pat) wasn’t here….and if there is any real change from the work we are doing. But then there are times like this afternoon when the sight of Mizrat and her father just made my day. Knowing that they stayed to see me makes me think that the little itty bity part I play here might just matter after all.
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