January 21, 2011

January 21, 2011
--Friday. Still no power, water, phones. Frustrating start for the day that culminated with an invaluable learning experience.
--Due to misunderstandings, miscommunications, and poor coordination yesterday, several people were told to come here this morning for a ride to Mbanga hospital to have filiaria (parasites) and malaria testing and treatment, and also for HIV/AIDS testing. The flank pain woman presented herself saying she was “a little better” but wanted to go to the hospital - I re-examined her and told her to go home to give her meds time to work, but I was over-ruled by students who wanted to hospitalize her because they’d have a terrible weekend worrying that if she’d worsened, they wouldn’t be available to help her. Because there wasn’t enough room for everyone in the vehicle that was going to Mbanga Hospital, the students were asked to prioritize which patients should travel today and which should be postponed. They couldn’t come to agreement, so today’s assignments and schedule were rearranged necessitating more travel time and significantly delayed arrival at our primary destination. All the patients, students, WEH staff, and supplies were loaded on the bus the other SUV, and we delivered the patients to a junction where they were all given money for taxis, a meal, and their estimated medical expenses - they were to take taxis north to the hospital and then home to Mangamba, and we turned south for our rendezvous with Bekoko Primary School.
--Bekoko Primary School is small and rural. The children are active and bright, and their teachers are committed to the educating them well.  I was charmed with variety of braiding styles among the girls' hairdos.

--Half the school was crowded into one classroom for the First Aid and Malaria presentations.  One teacher had a big stick that she pointed at children when she called on them.  From their responses, we suspect she used it to correct them, too. The groups rotated and the presentations were repeated. One of the WEH volunteers, Danielle, is the daughter of the village chief. The chief and the senior chief were there to observe and to welcome us.
--During the 2009 visit I had seen one of the WEH orphans, 14 yo Michael, and examined his tender and enlarged scrotum. At that time he was not given priority, so medical attention was not funded. Today I invited one of the students to examine him with my supervision – we found he was still tender and enlarged, with what we presumed was an egg-sized hernia. Arrangements were made for him to be evaluated at Mbanga Hospital on Monday, and the students will pay for his care and probable surgery. We’ve learned that hernia repairs cost about $200.
--We did health assessments with all the WEH children and several others. 

--Despite the chaos this morning resulting from poor collaboration, after finding that we did not have the means to transport a mother and child for hospital evaluation, a student privately gave money to them because she felt that her assessment overruled others’ and indicated a medical emergency. This decision was not discovered by the group until the debriefing.
--After finishing at Bekoko School, Joe and I rode to Douala in the SUV, and the Linfield crew returned to Mangamba for the night and then to Limbe for the weekend.  Its good to be in town again, to see Ruth and Raphael, Carol and Sam, and to catch up with the CNN news. We walked to the internet café to catch up with e-mail, and to finalize our plans to meet Njoke on Tuesday.