4th week in Kalongo

Ciao a tutti,
I know, also this week I missed my daily appointment with blog but I couldn’t miss my weekly appointment for describing my 4th week in Kalongo.
I would like to welcome to Cristina from Fondazione4Africa. I do not know you, but I appreciate a lot that other people join the blog. It is an opportunity to understand how the life in Kalongo and the particular conditions of the environment is.
This was a particular week for me. For the first time I approached to the children and nutrition ward with perspective of a doctor. The Ambrosoli Foundation asked to us some information about the children and nutrition ward. I already knew that the condition was not so good in that part of the hospital. But sometimes, when you look at the things with the eyes of an accountant, you are too much concentrate on numbers.
Therefore, with this message I would like to make aware your attention on the situation of children here in Kalongo. It is not common for me doing something like these, but every night and every day I hear children crying and if you think to an Italian child crying and multiple the emotions for 10 times, it is not enough to describe how children feel here. While I write to you there is a child in the surgical world that cannot stop to cry. They are doing to clean his arm injured but the disinfectant cause a lot of burning and there are no sedative for pain.
Children ward needs absolutely to be restructured. When you approach to the ward there are a lot of mother, father and children outside the ward because there is not enough places inside. Most of them lay down under the trees in order to avoid the sun. During the hour in which doctors used to examine children, there is a long line of people because there is only a clinic office inside the ward. The space is very very limited.
The mosquito nets are broken for the most part. It is a big issue because here the malaria is one of the most common illnesses.
In the nutrition part of the children ward, the situation is almost worst. Children are placed in two inside room where they used to sleep only on mattresses because there are no beds. The same situation happens in the outside room built under an awning.
This is an overview of the situation of the ward. Surely people here need to develop some rules of how to live in a healthy way, particularly with reference to the personal hygiene. It is not possible seeing children without any clothes and shoes moving around the hospital, sitting down in the ground and eating with hands. However, every one of us could do something in order to improve the situation that I described and to contribute to save the life of children.
I will upload some picture (they will arrive later because of the lower download) to clarify better what I look at here every day. In addition, if someone is interested to do something for Kalongo can contact me and I will give all the information needed.

Ciao Ciao
Fede