News from the Rotary Doctor Bank

Issue no 4, 1999 -- English edition -- home

Page: -- Contents -- 1, (2), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

• The meaning of life -- editorial
• "Like squeezing blood from a stone"
• Senseless misery

The meaning of life

In the Doctor Bank we tend to say that life becomes meaningful first when we can do something for others.

It is also possible to express it the way ear specialist Claude Laurent does in a letter:

"You should know that thanks to the creation of the Doctor Bank, many doctors' lives have been radically changed to something we would never have anticipated. To be able to give of ourselves during the work in Africa, without monetary reward, yet receive boundless riches in experiences and satisfaction, is perhaps the greatest that can happen to us! Yes, that is how I feel, and if I don't have a scheduled Doctor Bank trip ahead of me, then life at home feels less rich and sometimes quite empty."

This is perhaps not what we envisioned when we started the Doctor Bank in 1988. In fact we worried that we would not get many doctors who would work without pay. However, to our joy we found that many thought as Claude Laurent. Rich in money is certainly not what anyone in the Doctor Bank gets, not even those we help since we never help with money.

I would wish that all who support the Doctor Bank-and they become more numerous-could be in on our doctor conferences, which we have in May of each year. There meet a hundred doctors who have been out recently-all, I dare say, inspired by their work for the Doctor Bank. Or more accurately: for other people, for the poor and ill in Africa.

That would be a gigantic meeting, probably outstripping our resources. But there are other possiblilites: return to page 1 and read yet again under the heading Nordic Championship.

A number of people could accompany a doctor to Africa. Claude Laurent was very happy when I suggested a companion. Those who travel with him would see St Elizabeth Mission Hospital in Mukumu, in western Kenya. There they will be with the doctors and their assistants during work, live in the doctors' residence built with financing from Rotary clubs in northern Sweden, and perhaps over a weekend travel to one of Kenya's famous national parks. Jeep-doctor relays and other hospitals would also be visited.

Now, we wait for the first million in the bottle!

This is the year's last issue of News from the Rotary Doctor Bank. MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DOCTOR BANK and HAPPY NEW MILLENNIUM!

- LARS BRAW -

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"Like squeezing blood from a stone"

Worry about hospital's future

"The first weeks were the worst. To be so isolated was a new experience. It was difficult with medicines that are no longer used in Europe. It was difficult with the disease panorama and to obtain an adequate case history from patients. Dr Marion, the hospital head doctor who has worked there 20 years, once said to me: 'It's like squeezing blood from a stone…'"

Dr Agneta Johansson, from Nässjö, Sweden, describes her time at the nun hospital in Mutomo, Kenya.

"Eventually I adjusted to the work after a fashion. When a month had gone, I took night duty, and when two colleagues retuned home, I felt needed. I saw many seriously ill. For most, the hospital in Mutomo was both the first and last options.

"The hospital takes a small fee for care and treatment. None are however refused help, and the Doctor Bank Poverty Fund ensures this. The hospital is entirely dependent on donations from abroad. I understood that the administration is worried about the hospital's future.

"I hope to be able to return to Mutomo in March 2000 and help keep the hospital running. I would wish to then have with me solar-battery powered lamps for the wards. The nights are dark and the kerosene lamps dim."

Mother and daughter, who came to the Lake Magadi jeep-doctor in Kenya.

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Senseless misery

Attempts to solve gigantic problem

Dr Jakob Eberhard, from Lund, Sweden, worked as jeep-doctor in Nandi Hills, Kenya. This was, he says, a very meaningful assignment. He was in Homa Bay also able to visit AIDS suffering families, where he found a senseless misery.

Dr Eberhard explains that he accompanied three local organizations that work in the region by providing free house calls. The problem is gigantic, because practically all families are hit. The organizations in different ways also work to inform about the disease. For example, in schools, education about AIDS is worked into all the subjects. Teenagers get priority courses, as do teachers, priests and others who come into contact with many people. Another task is to try and find foster homes for orphaned children. Compensation to the foster parents is receiving inherited land and smaller sums of money. In return, they are to provide shelter and ensure schooling. The land reverts to the children when they become adult.

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A very ill boy, poor and in rags, came to jeep-doctor Jarl Magnusson, who immediately took care of him.