Day 9: Ceftriaxone Injection, HIV Testing, and Orphanage

Without the rooster here to wake me up at the crack of dawn, I could sleep in until 7am. We left for the hospital around 7:30am. Unfortunately my digestive tract was upset for most of the day, so the hospital trip wasn't the best. But it was still interesting nonetheless.

I spent most of the day in the women's general ward, where I learned how to give an injection through the IV cannula. I gave one injection of ceftriaxone to a patient. Towards the end of the day, I learned how to give HIV tests. The test consisted of pricking the patient's finger, squeezing blood onto an Alere test stick, and adding a drop of chase buffer. Two red lines indicates positive, and one red line indicates negative. I tested one woman, and she came out negative!

After the HIV testing, we went to Minor Theater and saw a patient with breast cancer getting the tumor removed with no anesthetics other than lidocaine (local anesthetic). We left the hospital at the usual 1pm.

After getting back and eating lunch, we went to a different orphanage (Rebby Jr. Academy), which primarily served as a school for orphans. This particular orphanage had fewer kids than the other orphanage, and was much more crammed for space. Like at the previous orphanage, the students at this orphanage sang to us and danced. We brought them toys, candy, and balloons, all of which they enjoyed. We also sang/danced the YMCA song for them, although it ended up a bit of a disaster. But when we gave the balloons to the kids, the whole place went crazy with balloons and orphans flying everywhere and bouncing off everything and everyone. After a last song, they gave us some drinks and left for their homes (or stayed if they live in the orphanage).

The neighborhood right outside the orphanage.

A few of the kids in the orphanage (many more came out after I took this picture).

The toys we gave to the kids (we blew up the balloons for them).

Balloons flying everywhere, like the yellow blob in the middle.

Me with a little person.

We talked to the couple in charge of the orphanage. They told us most of the kids have no parents, and the ones that do have only one (but that parent neglects them). The couple goes around the streets of the slum they live on, looking for stray children who have nowhere to go, and they give the kids some education and one meal (lunch) a day. School for them went from 8am to 5pm due lack of electricity. We asked them what their greatest challenges and greatest needs were, and they told us they desperately needed money to help pay for the teachers, because they can't teach for free (everyone barely has enough to survive) so the kids don't always get all the subjects they need. Of course, they also need money for food, electricity, water, etc.

Soon after we got back from the orphanage, dinner was ready. It was the same style beef stew with tortilla-like things as last Tuesday (the dinner schedule repeats itself weekly). We stayed up for a bit (over an hour while I tried to get the internet working again so I could update my blog) and then went to bed.