14. Timon's Report - Orphan School, dental needs

Here is the class room of the orphans to be visited for the oral health program from the clinic. A quick questioning revealed not many of them have got a tooth brush, it as good as a luxury, but do not mention about tooth paste, you may not find any who use it on a regular basis. So the least we can make, beginning with the oral health education will make a difference, there after more and more will follow.

Next is where we stood to pray with the orphans before we left. The one who is holding a rabbit is a pygmy orphan carrying this gift for the visitors. 

This is the African way of showing the gratefulness or courtesy to a visitor, and it’s not supposed to be refused because the visitor believes they are the needy ones. Rejecting such a gift will be interpreted as lack of respect, or dishonour we received the gift with thanks giving and Ringo’s wife took charge to make it consumable.

Please remember to mention them in your prayers as well.

The next picture is the school view from the compound. It is time for going back home.

13. Timon's Report - Running water

New achievement in the clinic:

For those who know our first class surgery in the clinic, it has never had running water but now Ringo has organised plumbing into the first class surgery and this has made a huge  difference because now there is no need to transit through the reception to access the tap in the Lab or the next room.

We know in Australia running water in a house or facility is one of the least things to think about, whereby for us here it is an event to have such a connection, reason why lacking it for 20 years was like a normal condition but imagine this is a surgery where patients always need to rinse out, the practitioner always need to wash hands, etc.

In Africa even the things which are considered to be small makes big difference and people appreciate.

12. Timon's Report - Orphans & the Slippery Slope

The visit to the orphans’ school.

It was a rain blessed day because from morning to the afternoon there was a nonstop rain but as it was planned we had to make our way to meet the goal. The interesting part of the trip was the amount of time spent on a short distance of about eight kilometres, it was almost an our because our vehicle was old and a two wheels drive, so we got stuck on a sliding hill and there was no one to help push for a while, till the rain reduced, then Ringo and Revd Kasereka’s wife (Mrs Mbambu) did the work. Never the less it was a good experience to know the reality of their condition. When we reached we were impressed by the staff and students welcoming and joy. The fact that they are not left alone but mixed up with other children from the village they look to have a good standard of self esteem. Our target was to visit their school and meet them personally so that we can integrate them in our school program for oral health education and even dental treatment when possible in order to give back to the community, but mostly the less privileged children in the society.

Having had that visit we discussed with Ringo and the school stakeholders to organise first of all oral educations in classes but not yet a promises for check up and treatment until we have a financial capacity to do so. Here are some picture of the journey and the school facility.

The picture below shows the place where we got stuck and waited for a while until the rain reduced then we proceeded to the destination. Congo is amongst the countries in the world with the worst road network, though the current government had tried some time back nothing much is done yet and everything is getting back to the former status.  

According to our plan I was supposed to travel by road from Butembo via Bunia to Mahagi and Aru but could not make it because of the road condition currently between Bunia and Mahagi being in an woeful status. After I dodged that trip to pass via Kampala, Mr Oscar the Aru Madical service supervisor and Mr Ezati the coordinator were in a conference in Beni, as they were travelling back to Aru they wanted to go through Bunia but they had to make a U turn from Bunia to Beni and took the road to Kampala then Aru because travelling from Bunia to Mahagi is about 160 Kms but it can take 3 days to get through as this is rainy season. Four wheel drive cars are the most appropriate means of transport for safaris in Congo but sometimes they have no option when a truck has blocked the way.

Back to our trip to the orphanage we were not far from the city centre but could not make it till some people had to push as I was struggling with the starring to keep on the road otherwise it’s very easy to be found in the trench on the road side where the small car had to be carried out. This is common event when travelling in Congo please be aware when coming to visit.

The next picture is of Ringo and Mbambu after they successfully manage to get the car out of the worse place. In such condition women are not spared, it’s the “Congolese way” and she did well; congratulations.

 

11. Timon's report - A new dental clinic in Kasindi

The second point was about the need to start dental services in Kasindi because the area is highly populated but has no oral health services at all. 

It reminded me the safaris we used to have in the late eighties and early nineties we were having long queues of patients coming from both Uganda and Congo. 

The idea that came in my mind was that we had some basic instruments in Beni Kasabinyole health centre which were to be used by Mateso who went through training in Butembo but he’s never busy according to the report we heard. Probably because there is Bernard Makasani the Dental officer there having a better equipped clinic in the same area. 

This means that Beni is not suffering for lack of dental services but Kasindi is. 

The question is whether Mateso may be willing to go there since he was trained to do emergency dental treatments in health centres. This question needed more thinking because it will involve some changes in staff appointment and shifting people having big families becomes costly sometimes and inconveniencing for children’s schools. 

This means there number of things to be considered before a final decision is taken. We shall follow it up to reach a conclusion about the best thing to do, either to send him or to train one of the staff members in Kasindi health centre who is already established in the area to do the work. 

10. Timon's Report- The Health Team & Ringo

Meeting with the medical service coordination team

From left to right:

Mr Policarpe Kyembwa the administrative secretary, Dr Isidore Kambere the Medical coordinator, Mrs Esther Mahithiko the accountant, and Timon Grodya the CDSI envoy. 

The points raised by the Medical service coordination were first all the concern about the Ringo’s qualification in dentistry being a crucial need for him to qualify to lead this biggest clinic in the region, and who will replace him if opportunity comes for him to go for further studies? 

I answered them that we have the same concern and are planning about having him among the first students of dentistry when the dental section starts. About how to replace him, I brought up the suggestion discussed with Graham and team in Aru on our last visit there. It was suggested to discuss with a qualified dental officer working in Aru general hospital doing nursing because they lacked materials for dentistry, the possibility of bringing him to work with us in Butembo. As I had the plan of visiting Aru after Butembo I promised to first discuss with Bp Isesomo and medical coordination, then if approved I’ll go on to meet him while in Aru. 

9. Timon's Report - Temp crowns

Still at the clinic we had practical demonstration of a classical Root canal Treatment as well as a crown preparation for a root canal treated for a first premolar.

The newest procedure was the fitting of a crown, but unfortunately it was not strong material (poly carboxylate pre-fabricated crown) and the cement was not strong, but the essential is that they have learned a skill for the future to prolong the life span of a breaking tooth. In this case the patient had all the upper right molars and the second pre-molar extracted, so it was better than having the tooth extracted that day than maybe one  or two years later.  

8. Timon's Report - Poverty, Pain and Prices

 As a matter of curiosity, apart from the special cases discussed we also noted a decrease in the frequency of patients in both health centre and dental clinic and we thought it was associated with the election situation in Kenya, as there was fear of post election violence like last time. 

The impact was the shooting up of fuel price in the region beginning from Uganda where some petro stations stopped selling to keep their stock for the time of crisis just in case things went wrong in Kenya. In Butembo there is no hydro electricity so, all the businesses are run on generators; therefore the prices of all commodities had equally increased having as consequence the changes in people’s prioritisation. 

The reason to explain this is the impact of the dependency of the businesses and life expenditure in the eastern part of Congo a land locked kind of area that totally depend on the East African countries (Kenya and Uganda are like umbilical cord to supply eastern Congo). 

This made us to think of a situation where any crisis in a neighbouring country lasts longer it can have a negative impact on people’s lives and businesses there. 

With the low awareness of oral health values in our population, in such situation only those suffering with severe pain would turn up for dental services, and with the extreme poverty affecting the majority of the people they will give up because survival for food will be the highest priority than oral health services. The condition in which the Butembo clinic is functioning with very limited income and supply is totally insecure and hopeless. 

In regard to this, one of the points in the staff meeting was to encourage them to work hard, be creative to keep busy, set the appointment system and keep time, respect the patients, be kind, supportive, and compassionate to make them like the services and keep on coming. This will keep the clinic busy and functional to the point of increasing the income so that at the end of the month they may be able to save some cash be able to purchase more supply and have something in stock to cater for the time of crisis.