KAOMA HOSPITAL

We visited the Kaoma Hospital the other day to find a doctor who would do a skin biopsy on a young boy with a terrible skin disease. I brought the instruments, supplies, and directions on how to do the biopsy with me on the plane. The biopsy is going back with Sr. Virginia to be looked at by a doctor in Aberdeen.

While at the hospital, one of the nurses I had previously met, gave me a tour of the women's ward. It was a sad site. Most of the patients stay in one large room with lots of beds and mosquito nets over each one. The outside doors were wide open to get some air flow during the hot days.

The next room was the labor room. One woman just had a baby and three others were still in labor. We were able to walk right through the room...there is absolutely NO privacy! There was one room that was so small that the new mother had to move her suitcase in order for us to open the door. She and her two premature twins were laying on a mattress on the floor.

I told the story earlier of the elderly woman who was camped out at the hospital shelter. Through the translator she told me that she had no food and was dying. I ran into her again on the streets carrying a plastic container of water and she recognized me. She called to me, but this time the translator didn't know the language she was speaking, however her body language was easy to read. She stopped, squatted down in the sand and looked at me so desperately. I had money on me this day so I gave her 5,000 kwacha to buy some food.