Saturday July 2nd
A sight which really moved me this morning was the last patient I had to see on a ward round I was keen to get away for lunch but was confronted by a very wasted young woman of 28 with HIV. I doubt she weighs more than 30Kgs and had several features of very advanced disease including obvious Kaposi’s sarcoma. It saddened me so much to see such a young life being slowly destroyed and made my hurry to get to lunch seem rather inconsequential.
At lunch we broke into our fruit which in Lukonzo is named Echamba. An interesting blend of flavours which we are glad weve experienced but we probably won’t look too hard for it again!
This afternoon we took a walk to a river nearby which amused the locals no end. At the river people were washing clothes and bathing at the river edges but drinking and collecting water from the middle of the river. Given the colour of the water its easy to understand that typhoid could affect so many here. We did pass one smallholding where the owner was growing vanilla pods. Apparently a German exporter pays them UgSh9000 per kilo which I should imagine leaves the exporter with a handsome profit judging by the cost of vanilla in the UK but the grower obviously felt this was a fair price
Down by the river
Did it taste like Mango dad?
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