one last tid bit

So i was so engulfed in what has been happening that I forgot about today at the health center and I thought it was worth sharing so here's a little side note to the previous post.

I arrived late because I'm pretty sure I'm sick with giardia and havent been sleeping too well. There weren't that many patients to begin with but the front yard to the health center was full of crap from yesterday's mango tree dilema. They decided to cut down the beautiful mango trees that were covering much of the front area because of a fear that the branches would fall down in a storm and damage the building. So they did what everybody in this country does to trees and cut them down. A little bit of info on mango trees, they are carpeted in large fire ants and these two trees were no exception. They cut down the tree which was strewn all over the yard sending pissed off fire ants everywhere. Then with a cigarette in one hand and can of Raid in the other, they started spraying all the branched and wood with Raid to kill the ants before they went in with the chainsaw (which they dont know how to use properly). Needless to say, 3 cans of Raid later the air was drenched in Raid fumes and the health center got just a little less appealing.

Anyways... today I was sitting there kind of bored because of the lack of patients when two parents came in holding their 2 year old's hand tightly. I then saw that the baby had cut its finger from top to bottom all the way to the bone using a butchers knife. Yes... babies play with large sharp knives here and that is perfectly fine with parents. I cant even begin to describe how stupid that is, and today was proof of its foolishness. The kid was not crying at first but as they started cleaning it with iodine the kid started wailing. Eventually stiches were needed and it was not something I enjoyed being apart of. My job became holding the kids legs down so he didnt kick something and consoling the mom who was crying. I was actually kind of hard to watch... a mom who is very upset with herself and her screaming kid on her lap. The blood was nothing, but to see the emotions in the mom and kid I was kind of upset inside. Eventually the stiches were performed and the kid stopped screaming but I can tell the mother was very dissapointed in herself, which I guess she should be, but its hard to see.

Then towards the end of that a person came into the health center who was hit by a van while riding a bike with no helmet. I am the only person in this village who wheres a helmet on a bike and with these roads I can again no begin to describe how stupid that is. This lady had half of her face swollen to the size of a football, with abrasions and blood everywhere else. I didnt do anything with this but observed while the nurses cleaned her with iodine, stuck her with an IV, and just bandaged everything with cotton and tape. There is not a whole lot the health center can really do and it kind of scared me to think that if shit goes down here there is very little help out there other than in phnom penh which isnt exactly close. Needless to say I strapped on my helmet extra tight before leaving the health center this morning.