King George Compound for the Elderly:This compound made of barracks and a few other buildings was built by the English before WWII. The government has now set it aside for older adults who have no family to care for them. The average man in Sierra Leone will not live past 35, so it was surprising to see about 55 seniors. Some were blind, others not quite there mentally, and the saddest case was a woman that watched her children killed during the civil war and then had both arms cut off. As you can imagine she has never recovered from the trauma.
As teams come with Mission Direct they have taken the opportunity to remodel the restroom/shower facilities behind each barrack one at a time. Our team left a few workers there each day and was able to see one restroom finished. A dear lady from that barrack visited with us off and on during the week (older folks prefer not to have pictures taken, but this lady was all smiles).
There are a few others living in the compound. Solomon is a young man who was shot and left for dead in the war. We were able to see his x-rays. He still has 3 bullets lodged along his spine. He is confined to a wheelchair. One on our team who is a Parkland trauma nurse was able to take digital photos of the x-rays and plans to discuss the case with doctors at Parkland (doctors there said it is safer if Solomon does not have additional surgery).
No comments:
Post a Comment