Dr. Eric showed us around at the MPA Medical Center. MPA stands for Mission Philafricane. We looked at the Laboratory, Pharmacy, Radiology, Physiotherapy and Orthopedic.
Tuberculosis patients stay at least for 1 year. After 1 year another test will be made and if is still negative, they have to stay another year. The family usually cooks for them (see photo). Also for the leprosy patients who stay in a house, the family is responsible for cleaning their sheets and so on. We visited a man, and they said, that he speaks English, what I saw really disturbed me: First it the room stung, like nobody would ever come and clean the urinpot. Also his bandage on the stump on his feet didn’t look like they are clean, but they said, it gets cleaned every 2 days. Maybe it was the second day. Also his skin was so dry.
All his belongings were in his bed, leaned against the wall: a torch, a radio, something else, I couldn’t really see what it was. And that was it.
Just to see his stage and his life really touched me.
So the next day I went back, the smell wasn’t as bad, and he was sitting up. We tried to talk to each other, even though they said he would speak English, our communication didn’t really work well. But I think, it counted more for him that somebody just checked on him and pay attention to him, even it was just for a few minutes.
I also took some time to sit with the woman who makes some baskets. She showed me how to make them. It still looks very complicated to me. In order to do the same with my hands, I would have to watch even more closely. But I think it was just good to sit with her.
Tuberculosis patients stay at least for 1 year. After 1 year another test will be made and if is still negative, they have to stay another year. The family usually cooks for them (see photo). Also for the leprosy patients who stay in a house, the family is responsible for cleaning their sheets and so on. We visited a man, and they said, that he speaks English, what I saw really disturbed me: First it the room stung, like nobody would ever come and clean the urinpot. Also his bandage on the stump on his feet didn’t look like they are clean, but they said, it gets cleaned every 2 days. Maybe it was the second day. Also his skin was so dry.
All his belongings were in his bed, leaned against the wall: a torch, a radio, something else, I couldn’t really see what it was. And that was it.
Just to see his stage and his life really touched me.
So the next day I went back, the smell wasn’t as bad, and he was sitting up. We tried to talk to each other, even though they said he would speak English, our communication didn’t really work well. But I think, it counted more for him that somebody just checked on him and pay attention to him, even it was just for a few minutes.
I also took some time to sit with the woman who makes some baskets. She showed me how to make them. It still looks very complicated to me. In order to do the same with my hands, I would have to watch even more closely. But I think it was just good to sit with her.
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