The BUV (Basic Utility Vehicle) has already shown its worth in making several trips to the local clinic taking sick people that otherwise would not have been able to make the trip on their own. Francois made the trips with the new drivers every time, except this afternoon.
However Francois had to drive out to help them since there was a small technical problem that they could not resolve on their own. (How many times have I thank the Lord for such a “handy husband”! :)) Still, this is only the first week! Lots of hope and many more changes to get this project going in the future!
Sometime, even if there is transport, the local clinic is not able to really help the people. In this picture the woman was taken to the clinic the first time in the BUV for a very septic wound in her foot.
Antibiotics would have been an obvious choice as the infection has spread from underneath to oozing out at the top of her foot… The wound was opened, cleaned and she was send home with antibiotics for one day, having to return the day after that.
However on the second BUV trip, they arrived a little while before closing time, finding the clinic already closed. The nurse (her house is next door) refused to open the clinic to treat the wound or even to just give more antibiotics.
The result was that they returned to our home where Nadia treated the wound (the usual procedure!). This time the BUV was used as the “local clinic” 🙂 (see photo).
People still arrive at our house at all hours of the day, asking for treatment, saying that the clinic’s medicine is finished. This often happens – more often than we and the local community can afford! There are many problems with the transport of the medicine to the field clinic and sometimes corruption draining the resources.
The BUV may help eventually to also transport the meds to the field clinic too, but first we need good and reliable drivers… Thank you for praying for this “Mwinika ambulance” project!