Bukumbi Diary - March 2007
March 28th 2007.
So much is happening at Bukumbi now that we wanted to make sure we had a way of keeping everyone updated with our developments. We will update this news board weekly to let you know all that is going on, interesting stories and progress with the renovation work.
1. Community partnership meetings
Following our large stakeholders meeting that we held at the end of last year we have been meeting with a smaller group of people who are actively involved in the work at Bukumbi, this includes the manager, the chairman and secretary from the community, the local hospital, the on site nurse, the district and regional leprosy co-ordinator as well as Sr Anna who works with us at Bukumbi. These meetings have so far focused on health and have meant that we have been able to address some of the issues that have been left idol for many years, such as a decision about where is the best and right place for people to receive hospital; treatment as well as who pays for their food, transport etc. Each month it is an opportunity for people to be open and honest about situations that previously have been ignored and swept under the carpet. We are really pleased with the way they are going so far and each month look forward to what action might be achieved from them.
2. Health Reviews
At present there is one nurse and one nursing assistant at Bukumbi caring for approx 250 people plus the surrounding village. As you can imagine with so few staff some of the health problems are being missed and untreated. On a weekly basis now Jo and Andie do a review of the community and encourage the nurse to come with them, looking at who requires dressings, has any news wounds, general health complaints and then they have made sure that the nurse follows up the necessary care or makes arrangements for transfer to hospital. Last week 25 people were found needing some sort of intervention including a lady with a huge breast abscess that was becoming infected and another lady with severe burns to her legs that had gone untreated. The burns were a result of the lack of sensation she has from her leprosy. She was unaware of the severity of them. B2A were able to help in both cases by buying antibiotics and the appropriate cream in town and assisting the nurse in how to care for these people. A joint health record to aid communication is also soon to be implemented at Bukumbi so that all parties can know what is happening within the community.
3. Renovation work
On Sunday 1st April we have 16 volunteers coming from the UK to complete the work on the ‘Sijaona Block’ where the older more disabled men live. So far we have completed the roof, ceiling boards, new windows and mosquito mesh and the team will be involved in finishing the work through a lot of cleaning and painting, scrubbing of floors and walls, hanging new doors, fitting new cupboards, building a ramp so the men can get in the building easier and adding some finishing touches by cleaning up all the beds, hanging new mosquito nets and making up the beds with new sheets and mattresses. We are very excited to see this work making so much progress & look forward to keeping you up to date with it all.