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I don’t know how the medics cope. The stories I hear haunt me and I only
hear so few.
A women in last week with 2 broken arms. When I thought of “domestic
violence” before I arrived I did not think that someone could break both
their wife’s arms.
A child raped and given 6 Kina (3 Euros not to tell). A 14 year old raped
by the land owner in her village and then told that her family would be
evicted if she told anyone.
We open on public holidays and for a while we debated if it was worth it as
there is no public transport. But there is no need for the debate now, we
opened following a holiday and had 10 new cases (which is a lot when there
are no busses running). 2 had been raped. One by 3 men, one by 7. The
doctor had to stitch one up.
I hear so little of what our clients endure that the tiny snippets make we
wonder how the medics and councellors and nurses don’t go crazy.
Chris these stories are heartbreaking...but thank you so much for helping people to be aware of what still goes on today.
My huge respect goes out to you and the medics in PNG -true saints they are. I also wonder how they don't go crazy.
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Chris Houston works in Papua New Guinea as a logistician with aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Prior to joining MSF Chris worked as a Risk Management Consultant advising multinational corporations on fire, security and terrorism risks. He is from Glasgow Scotland.
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01 Jul 2009 09:07:44 GMT
Chris these stories are heartbreaking...but thank you so much for helping people to be aware of what still goes on today.
My huge respect goes out to you and the medics in PNG -true saints they are. I also wonder how they don't go crazy.