walking down the street.
We first met in December when they were back in the US visiting at ECHO
(they are both ex-ECHO employees). We chatted about Swaziland for a
couple hours before they had to hit the road again. They gave me some
good perspectives on the way things are here.
Anyways, the schools were on break so Ruth and Rudy were in town doing
some shopping. They invited me to visit their home just 45 minutes east
of Mbabane and so I did.
Last Thursday, a PCV friend and I got a ride with a missionary and we
all headed out at around noon. In the afternoon, the girl from the
mission was trying to set up a soccer team with the local school girls.
She came out with 10 soccer balls slowly girls from around gathered to
play. The boys, whom had plenty of opportunities to play soccer, were
trying to get in on the fun but Rudy shooed them away. They were making
clear that this was just for the girls. If they decide to take this team
seriously, we have offered to sponsor them.
Gender inequality is a serious issue in this country. Constitutionally,
women have the legal rights of a minor. Of course, this is played out
differently in the country-side and in the city. In the city, the women
are more educated and demands more respect just by their abilities. The
business-woman who owns the Grifters lodge owns several other businesses
and is a Parliament member. The gender power distribution in the
government bureaucracy seems as balanced as it is back home; men still
have the highest rank, but women are not too far behind. For example,
the head of Forestry is a man, but his second in command is a confident
and capable woman.
That evening, Ruth showed us around the school and her garden where she
grew all sorts of fruits and vegetables. The guava was delicious. We
talked into the night about development, capacity building, attitude
change, and so on.
The next morning, Rudy took the PCV and I on a hike to a nearby
waterfall in the mountains. The walk ended up being about 3 hours
round-trip. It was a difficult with the steep hills and carrying of the
children. But, wow, it was absolutely beautiful. This secluded waterfall
fed three sequential rock pools before flowing into the bush. Looking
out away from the waterfall, we could see the entire valley. The travel
nurse back home had told me never to go swimming, but I couldn't resist.
Schistomiasis, here we come!
On the way there, three little children followed us and ended up joining
us at the waterfall. While Rudy was chatting with them, I noticed that
the smallest had a chunk of flesh missing from his thigh. The one inch
diameter gape looked like a bite of sorts. They said it was a snake bite
from the day before. It was very deep and it was starting to get
infected; the child had a mild fever and swollen upper leg. There was a
black thing in it, he said it was his mother's muti (medicine). We
walked him back home and talked to his mother about the seriousness of
the injury. However, none of us were confident that she would take him
to the hospital. This kid really needed oral and topical anti-biotics.
Not knowing what to do next, we hiked back with the agreement that Rudy
would come check on the kid a couple days later.
That was a very frustrating experience. The obvious and nagging thought
was and is, "If only I had the training..." I could, with difficulty,
muster up the resources systemically address issues like that but the
medical training... that's just not something I can pull off just by
determination and creativity. Right now, that child is up in the
mountains with his other six brother and sisters in a mud house. Alive
and well, I hope.
I want to say to him in siSwati, "Buthi, I'll be back and, next time,
I'll be ready."
No comments:
Post a Comment