But someone else will fix it

The children start to bring each other...
The line grows and grows with children.

They know their friends are sick or hurt in some way so they get in my first aid line with their friends to see if someone can help. 

We were told at the start of the day well working here at a small community project (Freshstart) in Smutsville, South Africa that Meningitis was running through the community; but they choose to stay open for the children anyway. I agreed.

An hour in, with many children attended to, I finish bandaging one boy with two big gashes on his legs. 

I looked up and I now find a sea of kids waiting. I was so focused on what I was doing and trying to pay authentic attention to each child that I did not notice the growing line.

Today is hot, very hot, and sweat is just pouring down my face.

As I put on yet another pair of plastic gloves, I ask if there is another volunteer to help as well.

No, everyone is busy. There are not enough volunteers today, I'm told. Marty, a local woman, might be able to pop over later if there is a lull in the recycling swop shop section.

Trying not to feel overwhelmed, I smile as I ask the next little girl to sit down. 

She’s about five and she is covered in ringworm. I make sure I make eye contact with her, asking her name as I do with all the children. She says her name is Anastasia.  

"Well, it’s not every day I get to help a princess," I say.  I tell her about the Russian princess and all the little girls huddle around to hear the story as I put antifungal ointment on the infections.

A boy, about six years old and covered in lesions is next.  I was told of his condition the week before.  Thanks to community workers and Google I had a more confident plan on how to treat his wounds this time. 

I won't describe his infections or his illness out of respect, yet I can’t help but clearly remember his face and feeling a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach as the sweet boy was obviously in pain. 

I got him all cleaned up. He gave me a big smile as he saw his new clean bandages; opposed to the mud-soaked infected ones he came to me with. 

I gave him a little bag of care items so hopefully a family member might do the same later.

I start feeling my help is so superficial compared to the much greater help the children all need. I can only hope their parents get them the ongoing medication and care they need. 

(? Sigh ?)

At this project, there are no parents. We can't control anything that happens offsite. You just do the best you can for the children as they come once a week.

More little girls now come with their friends and they are staring at me. They won't tell me what’s wrong. 

Then the friends take action to show me the issues that their little friends have. Dog bites, fungus, lesions, parasites, old untreated burns..... which I can help superficially... 

(Not to mention the larger issues of TB, HIV/AIDS, Meningitis that I can't do anything about.)

One girl has a massive gash that greatly needs stitches but the wound was over a week old. I can just imagine how much she was bleeding at the time...and still…for some reason no one took her to a clinic.  

I told her she must go to the clinic. This is not something I can fix. 

She says she will not go.


I try to get her to talk to the community worker and she also refuses. I can only do the best I can do right there to clean it as much as possible as I'm sure this girl will get no help and obviously her caregivers are not going to do it if they already let it go this long. 

Sigh again.

My last child, a beautiful little girl about age six with long braids, was just covered head to toe with sand flea bites. She waits patiently through the sea of children --my last patient.

Its the end of the day and the community project we are sitting in is packing up all around us. People are all leaving.

I have to finish caring for this girl and not think about the rush around me. 


A week later, the same girl will come back and I will see positive change and healing taking place. The community worker Marty covers her in calamine lotion to relieve the itchiness. There are so many bits its impossible to do one by one.

I realize at the end I did not have one sip of water all day and I was now the one needing attention: rehydration and Tylenol...and honestly maybe an ice cold beer wouldn't hurt either. 

I clean up my station and notice my trash bag of gloves and Band-Aids and used ointment is jam-packed full to the top....busiest first aid day yet.

I reflect on a conversation I had with one of our local volunteers Thembecca who said that often the parents can't take off work to get the children to clinic. 

They must arrive at 6 am to take a number. And they could wait all day and never get in, so they must return with that number the next day. That could mean two days off work which could also mean their family can't eat that week.

However, each community is different and has different resources and systems.

I feel more strongly than ever about how important is the value of these first aid kits we have been delivering to preschools, community projects and people who are just opening up their homes to be a safe refuge for the children to get the most basic of care.

The rest of the month our Canadian volunteer Amber,  Zan from child welfare, Thembacca a local Xhiosa-speaking volunteer and I deliver the first aid kits to the informal preschools in an area called Thembalethu. 


Amber plays with the children as Zan, Thembacca and I explain how to use these kits in English, Africaans and Xhiosa. I plan on leaving the extra kits with Zan as she knows of more children’s centers. 

Zan said, “These kits are like gold. I’m going to make sure the people who will really use them will get them.”

The smiles on teachers’ faces when I ask them if they would like a kit and will they use it  --they light up. They want to learn; they want to care for the children if they have the means too.

Most centres have nothing, not even a Band-Aid. Sometimes in their area of town this first aid kit might be the only quick resource for anyone needing help.

What I realized over the many years of doing this is that it’s just not just about giving a first aid kit. It is empowerment. 


It’s giving the tools and opportunity for the people to help themselves through this basic education and resource.

The odd thing about all this is I never meant to get into first aid work.

But now I fill in the gaps where needed. I do what a mom would do...TLC...basic hygiene…fix a scraped knee. 


But really? Can one actually turn away a child that needs help right in front of you when you know they won't get help otherwise, just say 'someone else will fix it'?

 

After doing this for over 15 years, I still reflect at the end of the day on the kids I am working with.

I see them as individuals. Each is a child, just like any child in the world, your child.

For me it's personal, it's not just “all those kids in Africa needing help.”  
It's real children just like your children at home that need respect and opportunity for care.

Post from FreshStarts FB page

These children are here right now in this moment needing help right now. 

Ignoring it is just wrong.

The words of others circle in my head. “It’s not my problem. Someone else will fix it. It’s so far away. Oh, shame…..”

Telling these stories hopefully inspires more help. I truly believe that actions speak louder than words. The boldest of intentions mean nothing without doing.

Ignoring in ignorance is no longer a choice, with the internet and the news we all know what is happening out there in the world.

Sometimes waiting for someone else to 'fix it' is just not an option.

I believe we each need to all do our small piece to help where we can.

So today, I wake up to a new day. 

There are more projects and it is yet another chance for a new outlook on life that is constantly evolving.

And I do it all again.

Love from Sunny in South Africa

To support this and more projects like this please see my NGO's website: 

www.projectcolors.com

Written by Sunyata Angeline Choyce, Western Cape South Africa 2019