'There was an accident'... 'hurry, they are bringing the boy'... 'Crocodile'... These are the words I remember hearing when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer at Usisya Health Centre in 2010. 'My translation has be wrong, there aren't crocodiles in Usisya'...Moments later I see a man running and carrying a small boy screaming in pain. Malawian children rarely cry, so the sound was both unfamiliar and terrifying. When you hear someone crying in so much pain your heart starts racing and your mind immediately begins searching for solutions. Should I go get the ambulance driver, should I offer my assistance... Helpless, and with no real skills which could help, I sat at my house and waited- if I was needed I would be called. Even the staff at the clinic could do little more than basic first aid - tie a tourniquet and get the ambulance ready. The district office could never seem to keep a doctor at the clinic for more than a few weeks, no one with money wanted to live in a rural village without electricity or a market. So, without any real medical training all they could do was load the boy in a Land Cruiser-turned ambulance and begin the 3 hour journey to Mzuzu Central Hospital. Later, I heard the boy survived, but the details of how he came to be attacked by a crocodile were lost in translation. Until recently, we were interviewing Temwa beneficiaries and met the boy, Robert, who was now a teenager. He lost his leg that day and now has a prosthetic which you can't see under his school uniform. I wouldn't even have known he was missing the limb except for the slight limp he has as he runs back to class after our conversation. He told us how he lost his leg... He was fishing by a river, about an hours walk south of Usisya Health Center, when the crocodile came out of the water and grabbed him by the leg. Luckily some men were around and grabbed the young boy's arms. Robert then became the rope in a human tug-of-war as the men and crocodile both pulled for the life of the boy. Luckily the men won and quickly ran him to the clinic. He then remembers going to Mzuzu where they had to amputate the leg because they told him there was no way to reattach it. I don't know if his leg would have been saved had there been a doctor in Usisya, but it was fantastic to learn that the boy managed to make it this far in life. Robert is now 17, in the 12th grade, and lives with his uncle in Luvu Village. He just finished writing exams and hopes to pass with high marks so that he can one day become a doctor. He said that the day he lost his leg he saw what doctors can do to save lives and he wants to do the same for the people of Malawi. However, he cannot afford to go to college, he wouldn't even be finishing school now if it weren't for Temwa paying his school fees (about 15$ USD a term), and because of the hunger crisis he is only eating one meal a day (which is just nsmia and small fish). While he survived the attack, life in the village is difficult and poses new challenges with each passing day. But today he is full of dreams and future plans. Robert hopes to one day own a bike so that he can get around better and people wont notice his limp as much. He also plans to become an entrepreneur and save the money needed to become a doctor by selling fish at a shop in Nkhata Bay. It is inspiring to see a young man with so little, have so much hope for his future. I hope he will find the funds to go to college, and that he will become the doctor he dreams to be.
1 Comment
Lewis Brown
7/7/2016 06:08:06 am
Bonnie,
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Bonnie HarveyCurrently working in northern Malawi as Programs and Evaluations Coordinator for Temwa Archives
June 2019
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