HIV/AIDS awareness class

My new bracelet from Sister Pauline

Saturday 14th August

It’s Saturday night in Mapuordit and we are going to have a movie night. Five of us, Dr P, Ian, Pauline, an Italian volunteer and me. It’s a beautiful night, a large crescent moon seems to fill the night sky with Venus sitting by its side, and slowly the Milky Way appears, it’s almost a movie on its own.

We set up all the equipment outside on a small table. A lap top computer and a long extension lead. You have to sit quite close so you can see and hear. Every now and again the screen goes almost like an x ray, so positions of chairs and screen have to be made. No popcorn available, but coffees all round and we all share the last apple (until the next trip to Rumbek), which is cut in to very thin slices.

Tonight’s movie is Muriel’s Wedding, a bit hard for our Italian friends but with sub titles they managed to follow. It was quite surreal sitting outside as an electrical storm in the distance lit up the sky, and the words ‘You’re terrible, Muriel’ were repeated, mixed in with the very noisy frogs and gun shots just outside the compound. A very strange night.

We heard that the gun activity was cattle people who had had too much to drink, but it was a bit close.



Sunday 15th August

Well, one more week to go, then off to Kenya for a 5 day trip to the Masai Mara so really looking forward to that. Life is so tragic here.

Went to the hospital this morning just to do the dressing on the little girl with the burns (takes about 2 hrs), and ended up being there till 3pm. Short day compared to Sister P - she delivered one baby at 7am, then helped with a caesarean at 10am. Unfortunately, the baby had a very large hydrocephalus and died very soon after birth, which I feel was a blessing, as it would have had no chance of survival in these conditions. The mother seemed to take it all in her stride. It was her 5th child.

While all the above was going on, an emergency admission of a 5-6yr old girl with a short history of malaria. As the Dr was examining her she lost consciousness, then stopped breathing. It was all hands on deck. She was quickly intubated and CPR commenced. We got her heart beating but she was unable to breath. After 1hr hand bagging her (giving her lungs O2 via a tube and hand pump), she could still not breathe for herself.

No intensivist or ICU here, so we had to stop. Her little heart stopped beating within 5mins. The Dr on duty tried so hard to save her.

Her mother was understandably distressed and very soon started the wailing which all the other mothers joined her in; I think it is a mark of respect and comfort for the mother. The father is a soldier and was not around, but an uncle soon came with a malay (cloth) to wrap her in. She was carried out and was held by a pillion passenger on the back of a motor bike, to take her back to the village. Just another day in Mapuordit.