8-21-12
Last night we had an overnight visitor. Kino, who is 12 years old and had congenital eye problems and continues to havedifficulties with his vision at school. He stayed with us so that we could drive to the eye clinic in Siteki an hour and a half away. Staying at Corine’s house is like a vacation for most of the children in Buhleni. They sleep in a bed, they have undivided adult attention, access to tablets and laptops and music, and unlimited food. Corine spoils them like an aunt with chips, coke, and sweets. Kino came with 3 bags of chips and didn’t stop eating. He was our nonstop DJ switching every 20 seconds from Swazi and South Africa House music to American R and B. We had a dance party and he showed us “Da Moves”.
We woke up early this morning to beat the rush of buses “kombis” to Siteki and to get in line early at the eye clinic. Any trip to Sitiki, pronounced Steggy, a larger town means picking up friends en route. We started our day at Section 19, migrant camp. When we got there all of the kids were playing outside. Adults were either working in the cane fields or asleep with a hangover from one of the various homebrews. One lady was watching all of the children and weaving a grass matt. Although this looked fairly complex with multiple threads and an improvised loom, this is an activity that most Swazi women know how to do. Sometimes they will weave in candy wrappers for design and colors.
Boto is 10 months and alert and very playful. She was crawling around in her pajamas in the dirt eating a corn on the cob that had been roasted and had already fallen one or two times into the dirt. She pulls herself up on to the concrete porch and then lowers herself again into the dirt. Heather and I are trying to let go of many of our ideas about hygiene and cleanliness. We can pick up baby Boto many times, clean her off, take away her dirty corn cobb, and next time she will be crawling in the dirt again. But she is happy, with bright intelligent eyes and lots of sounds and words I don’t understand. She lights up when she sees her mom or her older brother scoops her up on to his back. Seven years of working in family homes, has trained me to see the strengths rather than all the problems in this squatters camp.
Finally, the adults were ready and we loaded two ladies,( 5 adults total and three children and a baby) into Corine’s CRV. Half of the passengers did not have a seatbelt, and we were even over Swazi limits for capacity. TIA-This is Africa. The women were going to a government office to get birth certificates for their children ranging in age from 3 months to 6 years. Since most kids are born outside the hospital, there is a wide variance on when families will get a birth certificate. Sometimes, it is the necessity of being able to shop in South Africa that finally pushes the family to get a child a birth certificate.
We dropped the women at the government office and headed to Good Shepherd hospital. It is a nice brick building with a children’s ward that is surprisingly cheery for the third world with brightly colored paint. No disrespect towards my profession, but it seems that nurses in Swaziland chose the profession because it is well paid and not because they feel especially called to care for the sick. There are some very kind nurses, our friend Victor is one, but for the most part they are bureaucrats who give minimal health information, discourage question asking and are emotionless if not outright hostile to patients. We have heard stories that border on malpractice about patient neglect and disregard in hospitals and clinics. Uniforms are very important in Swaziland, this may be another vestige of colonialism. The nurses wear red bowlers and are often accessorized to the nines with red jewelry and jackets.
We had a very kind male receptionist take us into the clinic and conduct Kino’s eye test. Kino was able to see fairly well from his right eye but his left eye turns in, and he holds items very close to read them. He has double vision far away. Kino is a smart child, and he has adapted very well to his visual impairment. During his eye test, he tried to memorize the chart and repeat it to the young gentleman, but the man was on to his games. We had a very short wait, where I was not able to get a true taste of Swazi Soapy (daytime drama) “Generations” before a nurse in cut in the mold I described previously, took us into a room. She looked in Kino’s eyes, she was cool but not outright condescending as she shared that Kino had had a surgery in 2007 for congenital eye disorder. He was supposed to come back for follow-up. She was clearly irritated by a lack of compliance and irresponsible parenting. Kino’s mom died of HIV, and he is basically an orphan taken in by extended family. This was the first we had heard of this surgery, because a health history or a medical card are so difficult to obtain when a parent has died. The nurse gave us some eye drops and said that we would need to return when the doctor was in the following day for a referral to get glasses “Spec-ti-clees”. So we will be returning to Siteki in the morning, and I will hopefully get to finish my Soapie.
We had a fun wait for the ladies at the government office playing with the kids and singing songs in the car. One of the ladies has a beautiful three month old baby boy who was dressed today all in girl’s clothes. This was what was available, and he looked lovely. We had to keep reminding ourselves all day that he was a boy.
Kino is spending the night again tonight sooooo more chips, meat, sweets and more angry birds on Corine’s tablet.
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