Letters from Katie Stone, Old Fangak.

Letter No. 1.

Sorry, but i have to be brief. Not too much internet or computer power left. [All electricity in Old Fangak is generated by a small solar cell, which powers light bulbs, computer, cameras, etc.)

Well! We got to Old Fangak safely.
It is hard to believe we have only been in Africa for 7 days.

We flew from Hobart to Melbourne, Melbourne to Doha, Doha to Nairobi. We were supposed to spend the night at the Anglican guesthouse in Nairobi, but when we called Danson to pick us up, he took us directly to the domestic departure gate and told us that our flight to Lokichogio, Kenya left in less than an hour. Because they had cancelled the flight the following day it was essential that we make this flight! We didn’t have too much luggage but there were lots of supplies that Danson had for us to take to Old Fangak for Jill.

We landed in Loki (by the border between Kenya and Sudan) and were met by Bakari, who helped us unload supplies into one of the many shipping containers that make up the small airport. He was also meeting a Kenyan nurse named Catherine, a Czech dental student, and two Slovakian doctors, headed for other relief projects. We all loaded into a van and drove through the village to the Catholic guesthouse where we were surprised to find a lovely little cluster of self contained cabins. Good food there.

A place called Kate Camp offered a swimming pool, in this dusty little town with no paved roads. What a surprise!

We are all fine and good.

Our little kid with heart failure died this morning around 8am. He was going to be discharged today because he finished his Kala Azar treatment. Sad.

Latrines are fine. David (from the Alaska Sudan Medical Project) rigged up a sweet barrel to serve as a toilet seat. It kind of burns your bum if you sit on it during the hottest part of the day. The latrine is pretty much a solar oven.

We're very busy here. First day we just did weights and heights for the kala azar admissions. The babies scream when you put them in the swings to weigh them. Actually they just scream when they see us because their parents tell them the the kawaja (white faces) will catch them and eat them all up. Makes things difficult at times.

There was a little girl at clinic last night playing in the dirt and humming. I picked her up. She had some sort of infection in her eyes and a very high fever. She got very quiet sitting on my lap, and after about 20 minutes of me humming and rubbing her back she drifted off to sleep.

The interpreter said "She loves you now. You take her back to your country and she will cry no more."

We gave her plumpy nut which comes in little bags that you can rip the corner off of and squeeze the contents out. It tastes like peanut butter but each pack contains about 500 calories. We only give it to the most malnourished kids. She ate hers in less than a minute.

Must go. More later.
love to all
Katie

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