Reaching out to the Community.

One of the things that Whisper really believes in is the necessity of community outreach work.  There are several different projects dedicated to helping those in the community around the orphanage. Not that it is always necessary to go out, people come to all the time seeking help and assistance. This next post will touch on a few of my experiences in the time that I have been here. 

My first experience with outreach came when Emmanuel and I travelled to Nsuube last November to meet a family that we were told needed our help. Before we found that 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”; David. 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).  

I quite often get overwhelmed by the quality of life out here, for so many people life is simply a constant struggle for survival. The resources that we have in developed nations, that the government provides us with (social services) are either non existent out here or out of reach for many, many people. So we decided to do what we could to help this man. Within a week we brought him a bed and a new mattress. We cleared out his home (2 frogs leaped out through cracks in the mud wall) and put the bed in. The mattress that we took out of his home was putrid, covered in bugs and falling apart.It was amazing, the change that a simple bed made in his quality of life. 

Another one of these project is their Jigger Free Community. It consists of travelling to different areas around Mutai and helping to remove jiggers from the bodies of people in the village. It is always an opportunity to educate the community on hygiene and sanitation and the proper way to keep their home clean. The hope is that they will then be able to teach others and help to support each other and keep each other accountable. 

One of the vibrant colours in Uganda's  environment is the rich, red dust that flies into your face when on a boda boda, spreads on your feet when you kick it up as you walk. What people constantly warn you about is the tiny, tiny little bugs that reside in the dirt and when transferred to you, the person, they burrow into your skin. Jiggers. They have to be the bane of everybody's existence out here and they are everywhere. About 2 months ago I had to take one of out my toe and it was horrifying. Even for a woman who cleans her feet fastidiously every night, the hole it left in my foot was HUGE and I felt so completely violated. Ridiculous right? 

When we arrive at the home of the family who need our help, 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. We 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. the next week we were able to bring a bed and mattress and mosquito net for those two little boys and the look on their faces when they lay down, well it is what I try to remember whenever i complain the work is tiring or I feel frustrated. 

The costs for these projects varied. The two beds we provided cost around 90,000 (shillings) each and the mattresses cost 65,000 each. The washing basins cost 7500 for a large one and 3500 for a small one. Bathing soap and washing soap cost 2500 and 5000 respectively. 

Again and again my breath is taken away by the tragedy and simultaneous beauty that I encounter out here in Africa. 

Written by Volunteer Sienna Holden