Rumbek main street

Anne and Tabitha

16th October 2011

Well Ian has been here for 4 days now and I am a bit worried about him, he came to mass this AM. It is held outside in the outpatient waiting room area in the hospital, underneath the Lulu tree (Google it!). Always a good gathering, the patients come and many locals and twice as many children. Most of the service is in Dinka, with lots of singing, drums and clapping and waving of hands. Nothing else to do on a Sunday morning at 7-30am.

Ian is already into making new spreadsheets for the hospital. Inputs and outputs, to go in a financial report to potential sponsors. Think there is more output than in!

A follow-on from the cows for Comboni day. The two men that were arrested for selling the cows that did not belong to them are in big trouble, well one of them is. On Friday morning I had just finished giving my first lesson, and went to the surgical ward to check on a patient. There was a lot of activity, soldiers, a truck with a machine gun on the top, men in uniform, police and of course every person who was not tied to a bed by a drip or drain.

My heart missed a beat, as at that time we were without a surgeon (Dr R had left to go to Juba for an important meeting for 9 days). Our wonderful volunteer Australian surgeon and his wife who were coming to replace him were not arriving in Rumbek until mid afternoon, so would not be here until late evening.

The word ‘gun-shot’ was being shouted. I managed to push my way into the dressing room to see what we were going to face. Most of the people near the patient had uniforms on and weapons over their shoulders, so I got rid of them outside quick sharp.

Someone called our lovely young Slovakian Dr to come, and between us we slowly unwrapped our new patient’s left lower leg, which had been wrapped in a nylon jacket which was heavily blood stained. Thank goodness Ian had brought some more large dressings (donated by Molnlycke Health Care) and some splints - we needed them.

His lower leg had just about been blown off.

As staff ran around getting tetanus injections, antibiotics, and keeping the marauding crowds from the door and windows, we carefully triaged his leg. Will not go into too much detail, only to say we used most of the dressings and a very large splint as, we thought, a temporary measure until our vascular surgeon arrived that night.

Trying to get a history from the man proved difficult as the captain of the police kept interrupting (all this through an interpreter). Eventually we learnt that this man was one of the cattle rustlers. The two were being moved from one area to another and one had grabbed a guard’s gun and tried to run away. He was then shot through the leg.

After about an hour of triage we persuaded the captain that this patient must be admitted and operated on as soon as possible or he will lose his leg. It was agreed and an armed guard was to sit with him, but only for 3 days then they would take him back to prison. The nursing staff seemed very angry about this patient and say they have a bad feeling about this!

About 5 mins later his brother arrives, and there is another massive big argument between the different groups. The brother wants him to be taken to the witch doctor and bone setter in the next village. We do our best to persuade them otherwise, but to no avail. So he departs, carried to the back of the armed truck .The cost of this exercise was great for a small hospital, when what this man needed was not achieved.

We have not seen the last of that man - he will be returned for a full leg amputation or full blown sepsis, in the next few weeks.

Sunday 16th October 2011

Ian here, just a few first impressions, having arrived back last week. Don’t worry, I won’t crowd out Anne’s blogging!

We stopped in Rumbek to do some shopping before heading off on the last leg to Mapuordit. While having lunch in a small restaurant (menu: ‘rice & meat', 'chips', or rice & beans’, sorry no chips!!), there was an altercation outside and we went to investigate. A drunk was driving erratically around the restaurant compound in a Chinese 4WD, saw us in the doorway, and headed straight for us, braking only when we scattered. He drove off, and we heard that he later cleaned up a UN vehicle, injuring its six passengers, some seriously. Welcome to South Sudan................

Lots of beneficial changes in the hospital since I was here last year, with huge improvements to the water system (although, as luck would have it, the new pump broke down on Saturday, so no water at all throughout the day and intermittent in the evening. Serious problem in a hospital.....).

Anne graciously moved into a room in the Volunteers Compound with me, vacating her luxurious pad in the Sisters Compound..............

The internet connection is very slow, a combination (in my inexpert opinion) of weather conditions (storms) and inadequate server for all the new users. The solution in a new server is expensive and outside the hospital means, yet with the increased student intake it can’t be seen as a luxury.

No one’s quite sure if the two are related, but there do seem to be ongoing celebrations in the village involving dancing and wrestling by men from different cattle camps, after the ‘peace agreement’ reached last month between warring local tribes. The wrestling in particular is keenly followed and quite a spectacle – unlike the pseudo American version. There's lots of strutting, posing and athleticism that is clearly not posed like the TV stuff.

Couldn't quite work out the rules, but I suspect there's more than a little bit of 'boy meets girl' in it, as the girls dance inside the outer circle, whilst the wrestling takes place in the centre.