Physiotherapy à la Rumbek

Tom's Workspace

Last Thursday, I spent several hours running around Rumbek trying to help my new Dinka tutor, Matur (bottom right), locate appropriate medical facilities. He has a traumatic cataract blinding his right eye, which we discovered can only be treated by way of surgery. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Rumbek will be entertaining any eye specialists in the near future, so he will simply have to wait until the next team of surgeons comes through -- at least six months -- and hope that there will be someone with the proper expertise among them.
However, thanks to an NGO called Medical Care Development International (MCDI), we did get some good news about his fractured finger, which was apparently badly set at the time of the injury -- poor guy!! Tom (left), who is a Kenyan working as a physical therapist for MCDI, has assured us that the finger can be put back in order as long as Matur shows up for regular therapy.

So we have a deal now...I promise to make Matur proud by studying hard and he promises to work on getting his hand back in shape, so I can read his handwriting. I think that can be categorized as a "win/win" situation, don't you?

P.S. Also pictured: Zachary (top right) is VEGA's local Program Officer and he was kind enough to take the time to guide us through the maze of medical facilities. Besides that, he's just good company and deserves a little bit of recognition. Cheers, Zack!