Wounds and Neglect

One of the most important things we teach at Olng’arua School is how to keep wounds clean.

In a tough environment like ours wounds are common, treated with care however, most need not be a problem. Unfortunately it is difficult to keep wounds clean when all water used for cleaning wounds must be boiled first, few people have access to bandages or other materials to keep the wound clean and everyone lives day in and day out with livestock and dust.

At school the children have access to clean water, soap, bandages if required, antiseptics and of course help. Often at home, for one reason or another, the wound gets neglected and, in this hot climate, very quickly becomes infected.

Sadly it is not uncommon to see serious deep tissue damage due to a relatively simple injury not being kept clean.

In this case the child has had jiggers in her feet and though some have been taken out nobody has helped her to keep her wounds clean. Her feet are so painful that when she walks she cries. We hope that by working with the family to deal with this problem (and a new pair of shoes) her feet will soon start to heal.

Feet damaged by jiggers and neglect.

Feet damaged by jiggers and neglect.