Nothing frustrates me more than the endless line of filthy kids with skin diseases that attend our clinics. Rashes, sores, pustules and abscesses in assorted combinations. Nearly all of them preventable with just one intervention: soap and water.
.JPG)
Timorese kids don't like soap any more than kids anywhere in the world. But the biggest factor contributing to the universally poor skin hygiene is the lack of water.
Vatunau has a population of 2000, five wells, and a patchwork water piping system from the two rivers that flow through our village. A few households have small tanks rigged to the pipes, but most families still walk several hundred metres a day to fetch water. A precious commodity, not often expended on extravagances like daily bathing.
Various NGOs and government bodies have assisted with the water piping system since the late 80s, PPH has contributed to significant improvements in the last two years. Work in progress.
I can't, however, attribute my own rashes to a want of showers.
Right now, my legs are sporting five dressings over sores of various shapes and stages of evolution. Annoying, but not comparable to the awful 'cellulitis' skin infection crawling up my left ankle over Christmas - resolving now, thanks to the self-prescribed antibiotics.
No thanks to the bug bites from the garden, which likely got the infection going in the first place.
In the balance of things, I should be grateful for my cellulitis - it's made me more sympathetic now to the unwashed kids.
-raj
2 comments:
I emphatise with you on those bug bites ;))
when i read this all ,i feel so shit towards myself.i cant imagine this life situation .we r sooo lucky people.still we r complaining to god .thanku god giving a good life .
Post a Comment