Issue no 3, 1999 -- English edition -- home
Page: -- Contents -- 1, 2, (3), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
"Nowhere in the area for the Homa Bay relay is there a well. All must fetch water from muddy rivers and dams, often far from where they live. Women and children spend a large part of the day fetching water."
This is from a report by jeep-doctor Göran Norén, from Kinna, Sweden, who also relates that the Doctor Bank project "Water for Life" has been received with great enthusiasm. One must however be aware that it will take a long time before the goal is realized-a well at each outreach clinic.
Dr Norén meanwhile thinks that trials should be held with plastic bottles to purify the water. To begin with, five families will receive ten bottles each at the six clinics. The project will be evaluated after six months.
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Three new water tanks, together with a capacity of 270,000 litres, were recently inaugurated at the hospital in Maseno, which is a base for a Doctor Bank surgeon and two jeep-doctor lines. This initiative, so welcome for the hospital, was financed in its entirety by the Eric's Help. |
"The Doctor Bank doctors perform a great humanitarian work, and for a doctor it is very gratifying to be able to do something for people who would otherwise have great difficulty getting medical help. However, many of the diseases we cure could be prevented. They are often caused by poor hygiene and lack of education. The Doctor Bank 'Water for Life' project is one step forward, but more important is general health care and teaching."
This comment is from Dr Britt-Marie Widestadh, from Trollhättan, Sweden, recently a jeep-doctor in Nandi Hills, Kenya.
A course supervised by the Doctor Bank was arranged for some 40 volunteer "health workers", and a Kenyan nurse received training with Doctor Bank funding to in turn teach at the jeep lines. This is something that is done in parallel with the Water for Life project, and is the beginning of a larger campaign against "needless" disease.
Dr Marianne Ekberg, from Hyssna, Sweden: "Among patients there is a great lack of vital knowledge about medicines and disease." Dr Ekberg served as jeep-doctor in Nandi Hills.
"The Doctor Bank doctors achieve their efforts with modest means. For our efforts to be meaningful and contribute something lasting, we must in the population anchor knowledge about different medicines and diseases. It is difficult to know how patients handle the medicines they receive.
"The risk is great that the medicines are used incorrectly, which renders them ineffective. To teach about medicines and disease takes time, but it must be the long-term goal," says Dr Ekberg.
"It is suitable that a medically competent person, who speaks both English and the different tribal languages in addition to Swahili, distributes the medicines and explains to the patients what each one is for and how it is to be taken."
As jeep-doctor, Marianne Ekberg feels that her effort have been helpful.
"But this is not just because of the medical aspect, but equally about motivating and involving the village leadership to do something for the villagers, and instilling hope for the future. This implies responsibility and demands continuity from our side."
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Everywhere in Africa one meets large roadside signs that warn of AIDS. This example translates as "Your wife and children need you. Put your house in order. Use a condom whether you are home with your wife or out with a prostitute." |
As a trial, the Doctor Bank has set up a position as Medical Coordinator based in Maseno, Kenya. The work involves among other tasks coordinating the teaching of local volunteers. First to be sent there were Dr Pia Appelgren, from Lidingö, Sweden and Dr Karl Göran Ljunggren, from Jönköping. They will report in the next issue of News from the Rotary Doctor Bank.
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Pia Appelgren |
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Karl Göran Ljunggren |
"It is the people, the nature, and above all the optimism among the people in the midst of all this misery, that makes me so fascinated by Africa. People are so incredibly grateful that we are there, and there are those that walk many tens of miles to be examined."
Dr Arne Thorfinn, from Jönköping, Sweden, tells this in an interview in a local newspaper, titled "Doctor took vacation in order to work".