Thursday, January 15, 2015

Jeff Manuel reporting from Zambia

Today we met with the Kafwa to discuss the many projects they were involved in. We discussed the Good Life Gardening project, the Girls Achievement Program, the Child Support Specialist program and the home visiting program.  The Kafwa are engaged in so many good programs that touch so many lives!

As a palliative medicine physician, I was most interested in the home visiting program where many of the patients are HIV positive and suffering from AIDS. The people they visit are very ill and have few resources. The kafwa  shared one story of a man with AIDS who had recently had a stroke and his family ran from the home instead of helping him. They found him in his home without clothes, alone and filthy. They bathed him, helped him put on clothes and eventually got him to the hospital.  The extra care and compassion they show helps make tragic situations a little better. 

When our meetings were done a man who lives across from the school was having horrible back pain and they asked me to come on the visit. This young man was a cement worker and had developed lumbar radiculopathy. I examined him and then offered some aspirin, some exercises and told him to not lift anything heavy until his pain improves. He is the only one working in his family, so I hope this does not become a permanent problem. 

Delivering health care with so little resources is so difficult. Our Kafwa do such a good job improving the health of their community a and showing compassion when there is no cure available. 

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