“You got it?”
It was way too late for this. We had
waited until our roommate, Sarah, had gone to bed, before preparing
the festivities, as was her birthday tomorrow. However, we had all
had a long day.
The windows were quite high. My hands
were shaking, trying to reach above the door frame, and then I lost my
composure - broke down laughing, tipping off the chair into the
balcony doors in front of me, which immediately opened and almost
shot me through to the porch. I grabbed the door frame just in time,
still laughing of exhaustion and the fleeting thought that I could
have been on “Fail compilation of November 2014”.
We had run out of medical tape, and
were cutting up Bandaids to hang the last of the streamers. The
writing on the glass mirrors in the room, was the courtesy of the hand soap we had. Resources.
Saturday, the clinic is open until 2pm
so Irene and the nurses can go home early. There had been plenty of
people in the clinic since a bad cold has been going around. One has
to be careful when near any children. From first hand experience,
there is no shame (and rebuke?) in open-mouth coughing, the type with
phlegm involved. I had felt the substance rise into my nares and
eardrums.
When infectious diseases are going
around, they are nailed with medications quite hard, from the start.
I had questioned the frequent use of Dexamethasone and IV antibiotics but the response was geared towards “hitting the
disease on the head” before it infects the rest of the tightly knit
community.
Another aspect to mentally overcome is
that the IV cannula's do not have clamps. Once inserted a tightly
screwed cap needs to be on the end, but as soon as it is taken off to
make room for a medication insertion, blood will start coming out.
One has to be prepared by manually clamping the vein above the
insertion point and having lots of gauze present, and always...always
glove. If anywhere, it would be so necessary to have the IV cannula's
able to clamp shut here, before removing the end piece, so HIV or
Hepatitis B positive blood doesn't come flowing out of the vein, the
moment it is open. Manuel skill and mental awareness are both
seemingly critical.
Walking back from the clinic, I had
caught sight of a group of young boys chasing a small animal. As I
walked closer, I heard the squeals and saw the little mammal. It was
piglet - the the size of a kitten, with a leash dragging behind him!
He was running for his life, across the dirt road and under a green
shed on the other side. I remembered when I was turning four, mom had
asked me “Maranatha, do you want an angel cake for your birthday?”
“No!” I had replied. “I want a
pig!”
I had a heart for anything that was
small and pink. In seeing the piglet running for his life, I think my
love for little pink pigs was renewed.
Though the day had been shorter, we all
were well spent as the evening approached The new physical
environment and mental obstacles keep the volunteers and I on our
toes. I am grateful at times, for a little reminder of the Western
World – streamers and balloons. Furthermore, Mardi and I discovered
a pair of shorts another volunteer, from way back, had left. We could
both wear them - her in one leg, and I in the other. Maybe a reminder
of over-abundance and gluteny as well. We criss-crossed the final
streamers down the doorway; Sarah would need to be creative in
exiting the room the next morning; And we headed to bed.
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| Part of the Decor |
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