Witch Doctors

Today I was very intrigued by one particular patient. A man and his wife walked into the outpatient department and sat down in the chairs across from Dr. Kabonzi and I, as all of the patients do. Patients are almost always accompanied by someone here- a spouse, a parent, a son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin etc. The patient sits down in the chair closest to the dest where the doctor is (it is often obvious which person is there to be seen). Today was no exception.

The man was using a walking stick, obviously handmade. His right foot was not in a shoe was wrapped in a scrap of cloth. As soon as he walked in you could smell that something was very very wrong. Dr. Kabonzi sprayed Febreeze into the fan but it didn't really help. The man then undid the scrap of cloth and revealed something that I did not expect. Last week a man came in with a similar foot wrapping and his toe was split open. I was expecting something similar. Instead, there was a HUGE tumor growing between the big toe and the second toe. It was so large that it had pushed all of the other toes to the side (although they were all still visible). Dr. Kabonzi and I just stared for a second and then he said "take a picture!!" (I always have my camera in my pocket).

It turns out the tumor had started growing 2 years ago and the patient had never been to the hospital until today to have it seen. That is very common here. You ask yourself, why today after all this time? Did they come across some money, did his wife decide it smelled too badly, did he get sick of walking around with only one shoe? The questions are endless. It really is mindblowing. In the U.S. one would go to the doctor as soon as something started to grow anywhere on their body. But this man had let it grow for 2 years! It was impossible for him to even set the front of his foot down on the ground. And it dripped and smelled, if the sight, smell, and discomfort of it weren't enough....

But the sad truth is that many people here first go to the "witch doctors" or traditional healers. These healers instill fear in the people. So and so is bewitching you because he is jealous of your cattle and wants you dead. People will spend all their money and cattle and crops going to these healers, many are afraid that if they leave them they will die. But really they are dying because they don't go to the hospital.

Dr. Kajese took a biopsy of his foot in theatre in the afternoon. Definitely something I did not want to miss. If it is cancerous (and it most likely is), his foot will have to be amputated. It is the sad reality of so many cases here.  But just because it has been this way for years I don't think means it should continue this way.

In the afternoon Jordan and I walked over to the soccer field and watched some of the high school team's practice. I went over and kicked the ball and dribbled with a few of them and I think they were surprised a white girl could play at all. I am hoping that they have a game soon before I leave. Many of them play barefoot even in the games which seems so painful because there are a lot of sharp rocks on the dirt field.

P.S. if anyone wants to see the picture of the foot just email me... it was not appropriate to post on my blog :)