Sometimes in the clinic we have patients who we treat on an ongoing basis for a chronic condition. This patient is one of those. I've been treating him for several months for a wound on his ankle. He told me it was a snake bite from the 1950's that never fully healed properly. He has been to various hospitals for multiple treatments without success in the past. Here at our clinic we have been blessed to have some specialty wound care items that were donated by generous medical professionals in the USA. I've started using some of those products on this old grandfather and they have been working miracles. It also helps that he is a model patient. He came in this afternoon for a dressing change and I asked him if we could snap a photo while he was here. I'm trying to be better about carrying my camera in my purse to capture those little special moments in the day.
3 comments:
Wow, I think it is very telling that the young man is 19.
Please note that this is more an observation than a reason as to why this guy attempted suicide.
Quite a few Kenyans, especially in the rural areas commit suicide at this age. This is just after you have finished high school and received your grades.
There are over 3000 high schools in Kenya with about 100 students leaving school each year.
That’s over 300,000 students each year. The public universities, which you can get govt loans for only, accept 15,000 students. This means that no matter how highly you score, if you are not in the top 15,000, you have to either go into private universities, which cost about 1m per year (10,000 GBP) or learn some trade and make the best of the rest of your life.
Imagine going through your first 17 years in life being told by your teachers and your parents that all you have to do is work hard, get good grades and you will be set for life, and then realising that you have no future due to lack of university fees.
Basically you realise your life is over before it has even begun.
You then have 3 options,
Go abroad, and work yourself silly to pay for a degree (which is why you find students going to American and Europe), Learn some trade and become a craftsman of some sort or be drawn into crime (very unfortunate but sadly true).
The other option is sadly suicide.
Anonymous, you make some very good points! It sounds like you speak from experience. Thank you for your insights and elaboration on the subject.
It turns out that this young man recently lost his mother, is struggling to find his place in this world, and is having conflict with remaining family members.
But at least he is well on his way to a full physical recovery. Although I know that a true recovery will involve oh so much more.
sorry about leaving the comment on the wrong post by the way.
feel free to move it up. I do speak from experience but i somehow managed to make it, I will never forget where I was though and its purely by luck. Thank you to oyu and your team for giving that young man another chance hope one day he will write a comment like this on someones blog like i am today.
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