Issue no 3, 2000 -- English edition -- home
Page: -- Contents -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, (7), 8
These pictures come from surgeon Carl-Axel Ekman, who each year since 1989 works in the desert hospital in Garissa, Kenya. They show a happy boy, who until he was four had a harelip. Had the Doctor Bank not been around in Garissa, he would probably have had to suffer this for life. Now he could be operated. The picture to the right shows him a year after surgery.
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“Mission health care is struggling with grave economical problems. Many mission hospitals have been closed or are on the brink of ruin.”
Dr Arne Kjellgren, from Skellefteå in Sweden, writes this in a report from Ndolage Hospital in Tanzania, to which he repeatedly returns.
“So far, this hospital supported by the Swedish Church has managed rather well, but there are reasons to worry about its future. I recently received from the Scandinavian Doctor Bank a new 100 day contract. I’m very happy for this opportunity.”
“One day in Homa Bay, I was suddenly surrounded and ‘kidnapped’ by some 30 happy schoolchildren, who simply dragged me into their school, up a rickety stairway, and in to the principal. Here I sat as hostage until fully informed about Mutomo Boarding School, where deaf and disabled children are integrated with normal pupils to promote the individual capabilities. The result: the deaf learn to speak, read and write, and normal children learn sign language.”
Jeep-doctor Claes Bratt, from Ängelholm in Sweden, describes the scene and continues:
“To be set free, I had to promise to return, so of course I came back with mattresses, mosquito nets and pencils. Then the school got doctor visits every Monday, and each time I was received with contagious happiness.”
“All together, I examined 4797 children, of whom 244 had grave poblems with caries,” reports dentist Anders Winell, from Motala, Sweden. In the Doctor Bank cooperation with the Kenya Ear Foundation, he has worked at for example the mission hospital in Mukumu, Kenya, where the Doctor Bank for many years has also sent ear specialists.
“The constant power failures were a serious nuisance. Often I had to work by torchlight.”
All, even the children, had to pay a small fee. Anders Winell comments this:
“Child dentist care must be subsidized. I hope that future Rotary Dentists can be supported by their Rotary clubs with about 2000 Crowns (about USD 200). This would cover dental care for 300 children.”
The Doctor Bank’s Dr Alena Novak could recently hand over a great gift from the Trollhättan Strömkarlen Rotary Club to the “nun hospital” in Mutomo, Kenya: a portable otoscope-ophthalmoscope, the base diagnostic instrument for ear and eye diseases.
Without donations, the Doctor Bank would not exist, and contributions come from both clubs and individuals. Behind club donations often lie original and fun ideas, but also for example yearly concerts. Here are some from a long list of examples: