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Yvonne and I went to Thika Town to get shoes and some spray that kills jiggers for the homes of each family. We finished and took a matatu (a public transportation van that packs about 20 people into it...I sat in the walkway space!) to the affected school. We got there just in time to see the feeding of all the children! They each bring a bowl and line up to get ugali and a stew of some kind. I haven't tried Ugali yet but I need to!
After a long time we were finally able to round up the children and went to the first house. It went well and the mother was even there to help us treat their feet! The children were happy in their new shoes :)
We then went out to the street to wait for a bota bota to take us to the other house. It took over an hour and I started to get impatient. It was already mid afternoon and all we had done so far was get supplies and treat 4 children. However, I'm noticing that things happen at a little different pace than I'm used to at home! Yvonne planned for 4 of us to ride on one motorcycle in addition to the large tubs for washing and the bags of shoes and supplies...no way, haha, not with the way people drive here. We got another.
We went up the beautiful hill and quickly got set up in their home. Their mother said she would wait to leave until we were finished treating her children but we arrived and she was not home.
Things started out well but two of the children were affected by jiggers so badly their toes had started to become deformed. After about a minute of soaking one of the boy's feet in the hydrogen peroxide solution he began to cry. I tried to console him (in English of which he could not understand a word of) and it worked for a bit but I could tell it was penetrating his skin more and he was screaming and crying in pain. The jiggers also don't like it! It was so sad and I hated to see him in such pain.
Then, as his brother's feet were soaking we could see where the jiggers were and pulled 4 of them out. They look like a little circular bump on the skin but when you take it out a whole ball of the eggs come oozing out and left a big opening in his toe. I don't think we should have done that and I'm really worried he will get an infection! So I'm going back to check on him. After we were done we sprayed a solution all over their floor to kill the remaining jiggers.
I also organized a safari with Jorine for Saturday morning!
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