From our Jigger Free Community Program, blog by Sienna Howell-Holden
"I don’t even know where to begin. I did my first day of jigger free community today. It was an extremely difficult day emotionally and mentally and physically. I witnessed things that shocked me and really made me struggle for composure.
We came to an area in Nsube, which is an area right beside Mutai and went out to visit a family that needed our help. Emmanuel (the man hired to direct the outreach community work) had been phoned by a neighbour about this family, who was concerned that they were not well and not very well taken care of.
I should mention that it was one of the hottest days I have experienced out here to this point and we had spent about 45 minutes walking at this point. Before we could even reach the family we were ushered into this mud hut and the first thing that hit me was the stench. There were two rooms with no windows, so very dimly lit. The first one was a sitting room of sorts, dirt floor with a wooden bench in it. The second was a bedroom and there was a thin foamie on the floor, the dirt floor, and various items around it. There was an emaciated man lying on the “bed”. I was told that he had been in a fight with a police official over 20 years ago and had been struck in the back. The vertebrae in his back were bruised to the point where he has not been able to walk since then. He moves rarely and judging from the smell he doesn’t get bathed very often. His older brother is the husband of the family that we were heading out to see. I ask about his body, if he is able to move at all and I was told the pain is too great. So all he can do is lie there in this dark, awful smelling room. We took a look at his back and bottom and there are these horrifying bed sores all over the lower back. I could also see the scar from where he was operated on. He has pain all over his back and no wonder, he has been sleeping on the floor for years. He has these bed sores and no wonder, his foamie and blanket have not been cleaned probably for months (to say years would probably not be an exaggeration).
We move to the next house and two men start talking to me. Both of them reek of alcohol. One is the older brother, Paul, and he does not speak english but this other man does. The only problem is he is drunk. His speech is slurred, but he is surprisingly alert. I think he is probably a functioning drunk. We take a look at two of Paul’s eight children. I sit one of them down and take a look at his feet. I have not ever seen such decay in real life. His toes and heels are so infected that his toenails are falling off in places, while his heels look like crustaceans are attached to them. I take a look at his hands and the tip of his pinkie finger is so swollen and hard and that is my introduction to what it looks like to have jiggers under your skin. There is so much crusting dirt that we have to wash the boys hands and feet before we do anything. Instantly the water turns brown. People have gathered around to watch and Emma (Emmanuel) encourages them to take part. Which makes sense, the more people who are educated, the faster change spreads and children heal.
Then comes the time to take the jiggers out. We sit the two boys down on a wooden bench and I sit the older boy in my lap. We have brought safety pins and tweezers which are too thick, but useful anyways. There are 4 people who put on gloves and start in on the feet. Both boys are pretty stoic to begin with, but after about 5 minutes the younger one (about 4 and 1/2) starts to cry. I look at the non responsive boy, Keneth, in my lap and decide that the other one needs me more. I hand the older boy to his father who sits there listlessly. I go and put Deum in my lap and hold him while Emma takes chunk after chunk out of his feet. You think I am exaggerating when I say chunk, well I am not. Those boys are now missing sides and tops of their toes, there are holes in their heels. The way Deum screamed, it will leave me. He screamed for his mama and then his baba and I had to physically hold him to me tightly and wedge his leg between mine to keep him still. I could not hold back my tears, I was so angry at everything. the fact that these kids are going through hell because they don’t have the most basic of sanitation and hygiene and they have parents who are neglectful. I teared up, but realized that I had to be strong for the boys, my tears do not help them right here and now. 
I look over at Keneth and he is now screaming too and his father has let him fall between his legs and does not touch him while Keneth’s face is in the dirt. I try to catch his eye and tell him it will be okay. Finally after we finish applying polysporin and wrapping Deum’s feet, I go and pick up Keneth and and hold him to me. Immediately he quietens down and I feel his rapid breathing against my arms, his breath catching every time he inhales. We wrap his feet and promise to come back with shoes, a basin to wash themselves in, soap, clothes washing soap, and a broom to sweep the dirt out of their home.
The man who is able to speak english and has been quite pro active in helping us work on the two boys, leads us to his home. He has five children who also have jigger infected feet and there is this little baby boy. We work on the children’s feet and are finishing up when I look over at the baby and look at his back side. He has sores all over his lower back and he has a bumpy rash all over his body with a fungal infection that is spreading. It is possible he might have syphilis. I could not believe my eyes. This naked beautiful little boy is incredibly sick and there was just not enough time in the day to address it.
At the end of the day we went to Mutai trading centre and picked up some things are returned to Nsube. We brought shoes for the boys to wear and more medical supplies so that the family can keep up the care of their poor feet. We washed the boys right there with their new soap and basin and it was an amazing transition. The boys looked healthier and smelled 100 times better. I also showed how to wasWe also bought chapatis for the boys and the father. In the afternoon that we spent there, they had not had any food. Something tells me they don’t eat very often in a day. We also brought chapati for David, the invalid. Both groups need beds, which we will try to make happen as soon as possible. People cannot sleep on the dirt floor. David needs his home cleaned and a window put in and to be off the floor. I didn’t look at his feet, but they are probably in awful condition.
I feel really good about the work that we did today, but without looking at the bigger issues, it is pretty useless. The father’s alcoholism, the living conditions, the lack of education, the lack of help for David. There are bigger steps that we need to take and I will ensure that we do.
I feel so weary. My energy has been completely zapped and then I went home to the orphanage and had to facilitate dinner and bedtime for the children… But the welcome that I got when I came home was worth it! Issac squealed “auntie sienna, auntie sienna” and came to embrace means he is so gentle and rests his head on my shoulder and wraps his arms around me. And now Shafiq comes after me wherever I go calling “mama….mama…something like anna…anna” AHHHH! It is scary to think how attached I feel to so many of the children already. How will I be able to leave after eight months??
Oh I had to get that all down before the vivid images leave me or make way for new ones. Time to sleep. Nakwenda all."
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