201000912-14 by Tom

The Sunday was very quiet and without shocking events. The sermon in church was full of songs and quire dansing. The preacher was comparatively short and the simultaneous translation very good. We made a short bicycle tour to get more airtime for our sim-cards, but otherwise there is nothing much to talk about.
Monday morning we found two of Taiga´s puppies in our lawn. One of them can be seen on a picture. After feeding them (they were very hungry) Maria went to the Mousaka house to tell them were the puppies could be found. Mrs Musaka sent two of her grandchildren to fetch them.
The morning mumble gave as usual very little. The round was rather uneventful as not much had happened in the ward during the Sunday. A few tests had not been taken and the new ones had most ordinations OK. The little boy with the broken upper arm still waited for transport to Ndola. He was referred on Thursday and waiting this long with great pain as soon as he moved, is child abuse. Getting a fluid list that stated how much the child was given and how much it had actually got (or swallowed) was still a subtle whish from the doctor. I soon will give up this whish in the general ward but in the malnutrition ward that they will reopen after restoration tomorrow I will be firm. Giving children in pain something to ease the pains is something else worth fighting for. As it is now they give something the first day or two but some will need painkillers for a longer time. Burns and broken bones are good examples. I am too soft they think but I think only of the child in pain. The little boy with extensive burns has “only” one not healed burn left, on his left thigh. The mother, who has cared for him for more than a month, is very tired of the ward and tells me every time I see her, that she is capable of caring for the boy at home. We will send the home in a few days time. The wound has healed very well the last couple of days and we think that it is best for the patient to heal in the relative clean surrounding of the ward.
At night we were invited to the Holmgren family together with Becky and Rick the English doctors. We had a most agreeable evening talking a lot about the conditions of earlier times and the hard time the earlier missionaries had to endure. We returned the three books Stella had given us earlier, all about missionaries and their work. Mostly the Doke family, Olive and C.M. Doke. They had on top of “ordinary” mission work, translated the entire bible in lamba. Henrys father had a hand in this too. Clemens Martyn Doke was a professor in amongst other things, Bantu languages (for example lamba). A booklet on the Baptist mission of lambaland was most informative. We tumbled home and into our beds that night.
The Tuesday started out quietly with the morning murmur. The round was uneventful but two patients were to be operated on. One little boy had extra toes on both feet and was to be operated on by dr Okoko. X-ray showed extra bony toes but no fixed connection with his ordinary toes. One was a boy, eight months old that should be circumcised, because of phimosis. I said that all boys of his age have a relative “trunk” penis (trunk as the elephants have) and in Sweden we do not operate without mortal need on patients before one year of age. But the C.O. Edvin did operate with the help of Maria and all went well. The boy with te extra toes was I great pain as we saw him in the night.
In the period after the round I went to the “before five”. They were going for the normal Tuesday outing. This means that a team goes by car to remote places to have a regular once a month child and mother meeting. T was the same thing as Maria was going with the Tuesday before. It is fascinating to see how you with barely any resource at all can do a lot. They weigh the children to follow their progress. They give hem immunisation shots and speak about family planning. All the mothers and the pregnant mothers are tested for HIV. They examine all gravidae and record their progress. They find out the possible date of birth and plan for it. Two male community worker, or informants, talked about HIV protection and of general cleanliness and common ailments like malaria. Most mothers and children tried to stay in the shade but the temperature was unbearable in the sun. As we had visited the two “stations” we took to the very bad road home. As I got home I found the house deserted, no Maria. After five minutes there was a knock on the door. It was two Swedes, Linda and Björn. They study architecture in Malmö and are going to do their exam-thesis on te hospital buildings, their state (of decay) and what you might do about it and how much that would cost. Björn is the grandson of the man that built the hospital back in the 70is, Stig Nilsson. We had some beer before we parted.
We were invited to a farewell-party for dr Okoko and family at the Mousaka house in te evening. Classical Zambian food inclusive of ishima was on the menu. Very good but is hard working for your stomach. The dinner started out with the traditional washing of hands. Then you are expected to use your fingers when you eat. A lot of interesting people were present among tese the two Swedes, the two Enlish doctors, Erna, two men from Tanzania and the old pastor Mukuele. A lot of speeches to hail dr Okoko and his family, that were leaving. There was no troules to fall asleep this evening.