the ward

I got my camera out yesterday during rounds on the pediatric ward. I don't do this often because I still feel awkward about taking photos of people here. Usually on the ward the kids and parents don't seem to mind and usually enjoy seeing their "snap" on the lcd screen on the back of the camera, but I still feel like it's a bit like making a spectacle of them and I don't like that feeling. Anyways, now that we're clear on the challenges of photography in Africa, let me tell you a bit about these kids...
First is Daniel. He has lost 3 kg in the last 2-3 weeks, now looking like every "starving child in africa" picture you've ever seen, but this was the first day of his admission on which his weight came up a bit...only about 0.25 kg but we get excited about baby steps like that. Then there's the twins. These twin boys are being raised by their aunt, who, it has become very evident almost immediately, runs a very tight ship...these boys sat there on the end of their bed with their feet dangling in the air above their shoes for the duration of the morning, from when we started rounds on the other side of the ward until it came time to see them about 2 1/2 hours later...I got a wave out of one of them but otherwise, they didn't really even budge an inch and you didn't hear a peep from either of them. They are both being treated for TB after their mother died of an unknown febrile illness. After the twins there's a little boy whose face gave away a likely diagnosis of lymphoma...it took me a while to figure out what exactly was off about his face but in the end the left side of his face has a mass, but then he has a puffy right eye...with other masses noted in other parts of his body, prognosis seems poor with disseminated disease. Then there's yet another set of twins. Twins are really common around here. This set of twins is, along with their mother, also being treated for TB. It's not a very good photo because of the back lighting but I think you get the idea. Notice the older sister seated on the floor with the 2nd twin. This is a phenomenon I've picked up on in my time here: the older sister with younger twin siblings has little chance of any kind of a life of her own, little chance for education or any options of self investment, her life will be consumed with caring for these twins. Carrying one of them to and from the hospital or anywhere else the mother goes, cooking and carrying water for the family while the mother breastfeeds the twins (a full time job), doing the family laundry, and the list goes on and on...Then the next 3 photos are of the morning's entertainment on the ward. "Pah-ti's" remedial art class. Pat has been working on this mural for a while here and there when she gets a chance and yesterday she brought along a few apprentices. These are boys that are, as you notice, not in school on a Friday morning. They're not in school for a variety of reasons, being kicked out for theft, being unable to pay school fees, and the youngest of them just needing a little TLC from "mama Pah-ti." Once she got them going they really enjoyed it. Art is not a priority around here...in a place where daily necessities of living consume all of one's attention and energy, it's not often that anyone has or takes opportunity to teach or practice the making of any form of art, but clearly when given the opportunity they totally take off with it. It was really fun to watch these guys learn and then to paint. All the mom's and kids on the ward got quite the show too, everybody watched the mural process...what else are they going to do while they wait in their beds for Jennifer and I to make our way around the ward?! The mural will be something for not just these mom's and kids to enjoy but for families and patients to enjoy for a long time to come.