Busy, busy

We've been very busy visiting different communities over the last few days. Crystal and Euson have been conducting interviews with some people that the health centers or village leaders have identified as having disabilities. The most dominant trend so far is that these people are having difficulty finding work. They have all reported that it is hard for them to harvest enough food to feed their families and can't travel very far to do any other kind of work.

One example is the family we spoke to today. The father of the family had broken his leg years ago but did not receive proper medical care. The bone did not set correctly and now his leg below the knee is very bowed, making it hard for him to walk or work. The family is very poor so the father is using their only bicycle so that he can move around and get to the salt fields to work for about $1/day. Since the father is using the only bicycle the son can no longer get to school so he has stopped attending. We've been told that a used bike costs about $30 so we would like to see if we can help out that way.

We have encountered many situations where early care would have reduced or eliminated the troubles people have here. It seems that the distance to health centers and the cost of care prevents people from seeking help when they need it. It is impossible not to feel compassion for families struggling to make a living in these conditions. However, everybody we have encountered appears to be very resourceful and they do seem to be finding ways to cope and adapt to any dissability.

We have also benefitted from the warmth and generosity of the families we have spoken with. Our host at one home climbed a tree in their yard and harvested some coconuts so that we could have a refreshing drink of coconut water while we visited. I think it would be hard to beat that kind of hospitality!