Screening at Kauma Primary School

Thursday was a great day. We got to have a late start so the morning was leisurely. I woke up on my own at 6:30am ( hate at I can’t sleep in!) my brain or body just never has allowed me to be a late sleeper. I enjoyed some coffee on my patio and wrote the blog for the past two days. One of the dogs here on the farm has decided to adopt me. Wednesday morning I woke up to find her sleeping in the chair outside my hut and this morning I woke to find her in the chair outside my room at the lodge. Such a sweet girl who’s owners are away right now. I’m happy to have her as my watch dog 😉
At 9 sharp Gordon and I met Sai and took off for our walk to Kauma primary school. I had met with Aaron the day before and told him to complete a list of 50 people who needed screening. Children and teachers were the priority. Gordon didn’t seem to thrilled with the walk, but I knew once we got going it would be fine. With us being up at the lodge we were a bit farther from our final destination. We headed down the dirt road that actually is a driveway that leads to the lodge. It’s about a mike and half just down that road and then another 2 or so miles to the school in Kauma. After only 10 min of walking our friend Paul drove by. He is the carpenter who helped my friend Phil and I the year we built the compost toilets. He was headed out and offered us a lift to the bridge. A welcome treat that would save us about 30 min and a mile and a half of walking. The remainder of the walk wast bad and we made it to the school at a quarter until 10. Ahead of schedule! That’s how I like it.
Aaron kicked everyone our of his office and asked us in to sit down. Right away he handed me a few pages of paper with names on them. I knew immediately there were more than 50 names. I told him that we had discussed yesterday only having time for 50 screenings. He had a list of almost 80. I told him we could start with the 21 teachers and then we needed to prioritize the students. I asked if the list of students were students just wanting to be screened or did they feel they had an issue? He explained that some had issues and some had just asked to be screened. He also pulled out a list of “community members” who he had apparently promised screenings to. I made clear that the teachers would be screened and then we would screen the 30 children who had the most need. He agreed and understood and we took of to set up in the library. No light in that room so at first Gordon was worried, but once we set up he actually liked the natural light and said it would be perfect. Teachers began coming in and we registered them and had them sit and wait. Before long someone came in to get me and said there was a group of about 15 outside wanting to been seen. These were the community members that Aaron had put on his list. I told one of our helpers to send them away and apologize for the fact that Aaron had invited to many people. This went on for about 29 min and each time I looked out I could still see the crowd getting upset and begging. I finally went out and had to be quite firm. I told them I was sorry and they were welcome to come to Adziwa tomorrow and try and get in the line. I explained we would only take 50 and they would have to take their chances. This made a few very upset, but eventually they gave in and left. Throughout the day I had a few of those same people come into the room where we were screening and tell me about they couldn’t make it tomorrow and could I please make an exception. Several of those people really needed a medical doctor not an eye screen so I told them they were better of trying to see a doctor because we couldn’t help them with their issues.
Meanwhile Gordon was working with Sai and Chimwewe on screenings. We are trying to train a few local people so that even if I’m not here I can provide the glasses and they can do the screens on their own. They both did so well today! Caught on very quickly and actually allowed Gordon just to watch for a bit.
We saw some very interesting cases and gave out some glasses to a few people who really really needed the help. Screened about 30 kids and 20 teachers and then called it a day.
After a shower and a rest we went to town for dinner and to see a local band play. It was a nice night out with a bunch of friends from the farm here and Gordon enjoyed seeing a bit of the city. Tomorrow is our last day of screens at Adziwa and Gordon’s time here is winding down.