Good Day/ Bad Day

I went all about Manzini today delivering toilet paper with Queeneth- that wasn’t in the job description. :0)
But I saw each care point and have met all of my teachers. That’ll be good when we have our teacher’s meeting on Monday. At least they’ll know who I am.
Queeneth would introduce me to the class as Auntie Christy. The children respond in unison, : “Hell-oo Aunt-ie Christy. We ah pleeeesed to meet chu.”
At one of the carepoints, Murray camp, I saw Swazilocks!!!! She’s a little girl who captured my heart last year and I showed her picture all around. While most girls have their hair shaved off, Swazilocks had long tendrils shooting out in every direction, and hence the nickname Jean gave her.
Her hair has been shaved, but I still recognized her. I was so happy to see that she is still there at the care point, happy and healthy a year later! My eyes lit up when I saw her, and her eyes lit up in response. I shot a photo of her with my cell camera, but who knows how to get that uploaded for y’all to see. Anyway for those of you who know and love her, she is well.
Afterwards I met up with Teresa and we went to RFM, the government hospital.
Oh my goodness.
I have never been to a place like this is all my life. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was old, worn, dirty, and smelly. I knew to prepare myself to go in, but it was still unbelievable. The first sight I saw as an old man (a visitor, not a patient) who is dying of AIDS. He was tall but couldn’t have weighed more that 100 lbs. He was so skinny and frail.
We visited a small carepoint girl who had been burned when her dress caught fire at home. She was in a smelly 10X 10 room with 2 other beds. Her grandmother, who is her only other living relative was sitting on a large piece of cardboard in the center of the room. Teresa explained later that a relative must stay at all times to act as an advocate for the patient, - or else they won’t receive treatment. She said that if a ‘cup kid doesn’t have someone to do that for them, and then we will pay someone to stay with them to make sure they get medical attention. Unbelievable.
Afterwards we went into the children’s ward. At first, I was caught up in the expressions of the children’s faces. They were excited to see up and giggled, and chatted a bit. One, Pepele, was reading a magazine and we would look at the pictures together and say the English words. I’d pretend to gobble up the food in the pictures and He would just laugh! Another small child was there with a broken leg (the mother said the dog had been chasing the chicken and knocked the child over. I’m sorry, that’s just too funny) and just coo-ed and laughed, and grabbed hold of my fingers to play. So sweet. I enjoyed that time with them, but again, as I left, I was appalled to see the horrible conditions that these sweet little children were in. The children with broken bones were in makeshift-traction. An ace bandage was wrapped around their wrist and elbow, and hung through an IV stand, with a fluid bag on the other side as a weight. Pepele’s steel bed had been broken and the foot the bed was held up by a plastic chair wedged under it. The walls were in need of fresh paint, - it was just pitiful!!!
It looked like a hospital I would imagine in a war-zone! But it’s not a war zone! This is just the best the government provides for its people. AGHHH! I just keep hoping that the children we serve with HIV will never have to end up there.
I ended the day as Makholweni, and tried a bit of the food. We had rice with gravy and vegetables, - yummy. Also squash which was very good,( even though I don’t like squash,) and beets,-ech! Daren and Teresa assured me they had never gotten sick from eating at the carepoint.
“Oh I’m not worried,” I said as I took another bite. “It’s all hot and fresh.”
“Oh, we’re not worried about the food… but I’m not sure how clean that spoon and plate you’re eating with are.”
Ech. I hadn’t thought about that.