10-26-08
Monday came and Nichol and I arrived at the hospital promptly at 8 a.m. to ask the doctor about Anna's prognosis. Surgery in Maseru or Mafeteng? Full amputation or partial? After waiting for a few hours, we finally found out that a decision would be made later in the day by the hospital's head doctor and she would either have surgery Thursday in Mafeteng or the following Monday in Maseru. We were looking at at least another week of Anna having to be in the hospital. Her hand with the IV in it was also terribly swollen and our attempts to try to find out why that was happening were futile. To make matters worse, someone had told Anna she was going home. We had the nurse break the news to her and she was, of course, quite upset and crying.
Nichol and I left around noon to take a little break and get lunch. As we were walking back to the hospital for an afternoon visit with Anna, a truck pulled up to the hospital gate. It was full of white people we didn't know so, of course, we had to investigate. They turned out to be a few of the Irish volunteers in the area for two weeks building an orphanage just outside Mafeteng camptown. Two of the group, Mark and Rory, were filming a documentary of the orphanage build for Irish television and came to the hospital to try to get some interviews about HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and its impact on orphans. Nichol took them to meet with the hospital administration to interview staff from the Know Your Status campaign, a government-funded HIV/AIDS testing organization. I talked to my counterpart at PSI and, after calling my boss at a conference and the Maseru office for permission, was able to get permission for the guys to film our outreach the next day. We also brought them to interview Nichol's counterpart, Blossom, who works with children under 5 and could talk about the importance of testing that age group. It all went surprisingly well, except Mark lost his phone at some point and we weren't able to find it...presumably someone saw it on the ground and took it.
Tuesday started off with Mark and Rory meeting us at the hospital and interviewing my boss, 'M'e Mosele, and my counterpart, Keletso, before coming with us to the outreach at a village just outside Mafeteng camptown. Unfortunately the guys had to go back to the orphanage build before the testers showed up, but they were able to film the education portion and condom demos...and presumably my horrible Sesotho introduction of myself to the villagers.
Nichol and I went back to the hospital to see Anna after the outreach and found that there was still no news about her amputation. The IV had, at least, been removed from her hand and put into her arm but her hand was still swollen. She was starting to have more spunk and we could see a little more of an attitude appropriate to a 13 year-old girl. Despite her saying, “Ke kopa lipongpong!” (“Give me candy!”) every time I walked in and the inevitable pouting every time I said no, it was good to see her feeling a little better.
Wednesday turned out to be quite hectic. Upon our arrival at the hospital we discovered that Anna was not having an amputation at all (apparently it had healed enough on its own and the infection had cleared) and was actually being sent home that day. Except there was no one there to take her. And there was no one there to explain her medication schedule to. There was only the prospect of sending Anna back to the situation that had led to all of this happening in the first place. Nichol and I tried to speak to Social Services about what we should do, but the head of the department was gone at a workshop and we weren't able to find anyone else to help us. The nurses and doctor told us she couldn't be released until she got her medication from the pharmacy, but without speaking to Social Services we couldn't get that either.
Between debates about how to get Anna home, who to call, if we should just keep her with someone in Mafeteng until we could talk to Social Services about her family situation, Mark and Rory stopped by to interview Tsepang (pronounced Say-pong), an expert patient at the Karabong ARV clinic. Expert patients are HIV+ people who help counsel those who have recently tested positive and show that living a long, healthy life with HIV is completely possible in Lesotho. After the interview the guys took us out to lunch as a thank you for our help and we invited them to meet us out at Nichol's for dinner.
Upon our return to the hospital, Nichol was finally given a letter saying Anna was not able to pay her hospital bills and that she could be given her medication for free as well. It was 3 p.m. by this time and as we rushed to the pharmacy to get her medication we contemplated if it was a good idea to put her on the taxi this late and have her get home potentially after dark. As Nichol called Blossom to get her advice, I talked to the pharmacy staff. It turns out that there are specific hours (two hours a day, to be exact) that you are able to turn in your prescriptions. The rest of the day people just sit and wait, for hours, for them to be filled. Obviously we didn't know this and 3 p.m. is well after the scheduled filling time. I pleaded complete ignorance, begged the woman to help us because we were just trying to help this little girl get home and she had no family to take responsibility for her. Though rude and obviously annoyed, the pharmacist helped us out and we got Anna's meds in record time (though they were hid in her medical records book to make sure none of the other patients saw that we had cut the line). And that was it. Anna was out and ready to go home. After having the nurse explain to Anna in Sesotho that she must, must, must take one of each kind of pill three times a day and visit the clinic each morning to get her finger re-wrapped (and Nichol and I hoping that Anna will follow through since there's no one at home to make sure she does) I said my goodbyes. I gave Anna one last big, long hug outside the hospital gate, promised to visit and told her for the millionth time that if she needed anything, ever, to find a phone and call Nichol or I and we would get to her. She sniffled but, in true Anna fashion, did her best not to cry. As she and Nichol walked down the road I couldn't help but think about what waits for her, if what we've done really helped or if it will just make things back home that much harder for her to face.
Mark and Rory picked me up around 7:30 p.m. in a taxi and we headed out to Nichol's for much needed chilling. I introduced them to the village bar (we stopped in to get some quarts of beer for dinner) and made it to Nichol's just as she was finishing up Thai noodles. It was a really good night of hanging out and watching movies and learning that, apparently, everything we say about the Irish is offensive. Sorry about all the leprechaun jokes guys! :)
Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful, but I really needed it after dealing with Anna for the past week. Keletso and I tried to go to the taxi drivers association to schedule an outreach but they weren't around. She also took me to the office that hires workers for the mines in South Africa. Many Basotho men work there, coming home at the most once a month, in dangerous conditions because it pays better than anything they could do in Lesotho. The office was crowded, with lines out the door, and towards one side of the waiting room sat about ten men in wheelchairs. As we were leaving Keletso confirmed my suspicion...those were men who had been hurt working in the mines and were collecting money for their injuries. Ten men, in the Mafeteng office, on one day.
Friday afternoon Nichol and I met up with Tsepang and headed out to the orphanage dedication. In true Lesotho style it started late, but there were some great Zulu and Basotho dancers and the orphanage is really nice. It will house 20+ children, the worst of the worst cases, a facility that is badly needed here. Mark and Rory promised to try to meet us out later (the build crew left at 8:30 a.m. Saturday to get back to Jo'burg to catch their flight home) for goodbyes and Nichol, Tsepang and I went to the Golden Hotel in town to meet with a couple of Welsh teachers (they have been teaching in Mafeteng for a year and will head home next month) for pizza.
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There you have it, the weekly Kelly in Lesotho update. This next week Nichol and I are planning to go visit Anna to make sure she's getting along alright back at her village, and the head of Social Services promised us she is going out to visit as well to assess her living situation. And a fond farewell to Mark and Rory, best of luck on the documentary!
The other piece of news I have to report involves my holiday plans. After stumbling across a reasonably-priced plane ticket, I've made plans to spend a couple weeks in Istanbul in December/January. My friend Josh, who's there doing research for his thesis, graciously invited me to visit and I figured, no time like the present (or two months from the present). So, vacation in Turkey in just two months. I can't wait!
Monday came and Nichol and I arrived at the hospital promptly at 8 a.m. to ask the doctor about Anna's prognosis. Surgery in Maseru or Mafeteng? Full amputation or partial? After waiting for a few hours, we finally found out that a decision would be made later in the day by the hospital's head doctor and she would either have surgery Thursday in Mafeteng or the following Monday in Maseru. We were looking at at least another week of Anna having to be in the hospital. Her hand with the IV in it was also terribly swollen and our attempts to try to find out why that was happening were futile. To make matters worse, someone had told Anna she was going home. We had the nurse break the news to her and she was, of course, quite upset and crying.
Nichol and I left around noon to take a little break and get lunch. As we were walking back to the hospital for an afternoon visit with Anna, a truck pulled up to the hospital gate. It was full of white people we didn't know so, of course, we had to investigate. They turned out to be a few of the Irish volunteers in the area for two weeks building an orphanage just outside Mafeteng camptown. Two of the group, Mark and Rory, were filming a documentary of the orphanage build for Irish television and came to the hospital to try to get some interviews about HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and its impact on orphans. Nichol took them to meet with the hospital administration to interview staff from the Know Your Status campaign, a government-funded HIV/AIDS testing organization. I talked to my counterpart at PSI and, after calling my boss at a conference and the Maseru office for permission, was able to get permission for the guys to film our outreach the next day. We also brought them to interview Nichol's counterpart, Blossom, who works with children under 5 and could talk about the importance of testing that age group. It all went surprisingly well, except Mark lost his phone at some point and we weren't able to find it...presumably someone saw it on the ground and took it.
Tuesday started off with Mark and Rory meeting us at the hospital and interviewing my boss, 'M'e Mosele, and my counterpart, Keletso, before coming with us to the outreach at a village just outside Mafeteng camptown. Unfortunately the guys had to go back to the orphanage build before the testers showed up, but they were able to film the education portion and condom demos...and presumably my horrible Sesotho introduction of myself to the villagers.
Nichol and I went back to the hospital to see Anna after the outreach and found that there was still no news about her amputation. The IV had, at least, been removed from her hand and put into her arm but her hand was still swollen. She was starting to have more spunk and we could see a little more of an attitude appropriate to a 13 year-old girl. Despite her saying, “Ke kopa lipongpong!” (“Give me candy!”) every time I walked in and the inevitable pouting every time I said no, it was good to see her feeling a little better.
Wednesday turned out to be quite hectic. Upon our arrival at the hospital we discovered that Anna was not having an amputation at all (apparently it had healed enough on its own and the infection had cleared) and was actually being sent home that day. Except there was no one there to take her. And there was no one there to explain her medication schedule to. There was only the prospect of sending Anna back to the situation that had led to all of this happening in the first place. Nichol and I tried to speak to Social Services about what we should do, but the head of the department was gone at a workshop and we weren't able to find anyone else to help us. The nurses and doctor told us she couldn't be released until she got her medication from the pharmacy, but without speaking to Social Services we couldn't get that either.
Between debates about how to get Anna home, who to call, if we should just keep her with someone in Mafeteng until we could talk to Social Services about her family situation, Mark and Rory stopped by to interview Tsepang (pronounced Say-pong), an expert patient at the Karabong ARV clinic. Expert patients are HIV+ people who help counsel those who have recently tested positive and show that living a long, healthy life with HIV is completely possible in Lesotho. After the interview the guys took us out to lunch as a thank you for our help and we invited them to meet us out at Nichol's for dinner.
Upon our return to the hospital, Nichol was finally given a letter saying Anna was not able to pay her hospital bills and that she could be given her medication for free as well. It was 3 p.m. by this time and as we rushed to the pharmacy to get her medication we contemplated if it was a good idea to put her on the taxi this late and have her get home potentially after dark. As Nichol called Blossom to get her advice, I talked to the pharmacy staff. It turns out that there are specific hours (two hours a day, to be exact) that you are able to turn in your prescriptions. The rest of the day people just sit and wait, for hours, for them to be filled. Obviously we didn't know this and 3 p.m. is well after the scheduled filling time. I pleaded complete ignorance, begged the woman to help us because we were just trying to help this little girl get home and she had no family to take responsibility for her. Though rude and obviously annoyed, the pharmacist helped us out and we got Anna's meds in record time (though they were hid in her medical records book to make sure none of the other patients saw that we had cut the line). And that was it. Anna was out and ready to go home. After having the nurse explain to Anna in Sesotho that she must, must, must take one of each kind of pill three times a day and visit the clinic each morning to get her finger re-wrapped (and Nichol and I hoping that Anna will follow through since there's no one at home to make sure she does) I said my goodbyes. I gave Anna one last big, long hug outside the hospital gate, promised to visit and told her for the millionth time that if she needed anything, ever, to find a phone and call Nichol or I and we would get to her. She sniffled but, in true Anna fashion, did her best not to cry. As she and Nichol walked down the road I couldn't help but think about what waits for her, if what we've done really helped or if it will just make things back home that much harder for her to face.
Mark and Rory picked me up around 7:30 p.m. in a taxi and we headed out to Nichol's for much needed chilling. I introduced them to the village bar (we stopped in to get some quarts of beer for dinner) and made it to Nichol's just as she was finishing up Thai noodles. It was a really good night of hanging out and watching movies and learning that, apparently, everything we say about the Irish is offensive. Sorry about all the leprechaun jokes guys! :)
Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful, but I really needed it after dealing with Anna for the past week. Keletso and I tried to go to the taxi drivers association to schedule an outreach but they weren't around. She also took me to the office that hires workers for the mines in South Africa. Many Basotho men work there, coming home at the most once a month, in dangerous conditions because it pays better than anything they could do in Lesotho. The office was crowded, with lines out the door, and towards one side of the waiting room sat about ten men in wheelchairs. As we were leaving Keletso confirmed my suspicion...those were men who had been hurt working in the mines and were collecting money for their injuries. Ten men, in the Mafeteng office, on one day.
Friday afternoon Nichol and I met up with Tsepang and headed out to the orphanage dedication. In true Lesotho style it started late, but there were some great Zulu and Basotho dancers and the orphanage is really nice. It will house 20+ children, the worst of the worst cases, a facility that is badly needed here. Mark and Rory promised to try to meet us out later (the build crew left at 8:30 a.m. Saturday to get back to Jo'burg to catch their flight home) for goodbyes and Nichol, Tsepang and I went to the Golden Hotel in town to meet with a couple of Welsh teachers (they have been teaching in Mafeteng for a year and will head home next month) for pizza.
There you have it, the weekly Kelly in Lesotho update. This next week Nichol and I are planning to go visit Anna to make sure she's getting along alright back at her village, and the head of Social Services promised us she is going out to visit as well to assess her living situation. And a fond farewell to Mark and Rory, best of luck on the documentary!
The other piece of news I have to report involves my holiday plans. After stumbling across a reasonably-priced plane ticket, I've made plans to spend a couple weeks in Istanbul in December/January. My friend Josh, who's there doing research for his thesis, graciously invited me to visit and I figured, no time like the present (or two months from the present). So, vacation in Turkey in just two months. I can't wait!
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