Burn Survivor Pays It Forward

Pictured is one of my favorite programs offered at Nkhoma. Loyce stands and reads a burn prevention safety book in Chichewa to mothers and children staying at the Nkhoma Hospital. Loyce isn't a teacher, she's a burn survivor who lived through a 4th degree burn of her scalp when she fell into a cooking fire by her home while having a seizure. She spent 370 days in the hospital in 2006 and lives to tell her story of survival in the wards at Nkhoma Hospital.
Loyce visits the hospital once a month to provide the invaluable prevention education, and also stops by the pharmacy to pick up her epilepsy meds that are offered free of charge by ABR to prevent her any further injury by fire.

Visiting ReSurge Team Tackles Disability in Nkhoma

Last week, Africa Burn Relief and Nkhoma Hosptial were most fortunate to partner with ReSurge International (formally Interplast) to help patients with disabilities, including burn contractures and cleft lips a new outlook on life.
With the help of Dr. Scott Corlew and Susan Smith, NP, 5 patients were provided services that are not otherwise offered in the rural site of Nkhoma. Besides surgery, assistance with continued education was offered in 2 hospital sites and most appreciated by Malawian clinician and nurses who rarely recieve the specialized expertise and teaching they were able to provide.
During their stay, ReSurge team members benefited from witnessing our newly launched prevention program and dramas. Teaching children and parents in the rural setting about preventing burns is simply a unique, amazing, and rewarding experience.
I most welcome ReSurge team members to return to our site to continue much needed reconstruction services with us and our partner, Nkhoma Hospital. Hope to see you soon!

Burn Prevention Program Escalates!

December brings a busy month for Africa Burn Relief! While many people in the US are winding down for the holiday season we have kicked things up notch here in Nkhoma. With the help of friend and volunteer Sam Thompson, our burn prevention efforts have escalated to reach 6 rural villages and 4 schools. Sam is working with an amazing local drama group who work rurally to give health care messages to the neediest of Malawians.
Sam is concentrating his efforts on the education of parents and young children in an attempt to decrease the number of preventable burn injuries. The simple teaching concept of STOP-DROP-AND-ROLL, is a well known technique to put out a flame amongst our youngsters in the US. But here in Malawi this has never been heard of our taught by teachers.
Pictured a child proudly demonstrates his new learned skill of stop drop and roll, and some of the many children that Sam has reached with his prevention teachings and children's coloring book, Luka's Safety Adventure!

The Way It Is...

This is a picture of a patient’s grandmother laundering the dressings that were removed from her grandson. Because of hospital wide shortages of quality dressings, family members must wash their outer dressings daily to be reused the next day. This certainly is not practicing sterile technique or even clean technique by any means, certainly not acceptable by US standards, but there is simply no other alternative. If they don’t wash the dressings they have, the child will go without the dressings. The boy was burned over 23% of his body. At first the family did not divulge how the accident occurred, they told us he was pushed into a fire by a friend. Days later it was revealed that he fell into a fire while practicing a traditional dance. Likely they hid this from us as some Malawians view traditional dancing as voodoo or possibly associated with unchristian-like teachings. This is of course irrelevant to his treatment, and tomorrow he will leave a healed 12 year old boy after 3 skin graft operations.

DeSales University 5k Walk/Race to Benefit Africa Burn Relief

The DeSales University PA Program Student Society will host it's second annual 5k Walk/Race to help raise funds for our program serving burn victims in rural Malawi, Africa.
Please consider joining us for an amazing Autumn day to support a great cause. I will be flying in from Malawi to support this event and raise awareness of the Africa Burn Relief Program in Pennsylvania communities.

Place: DeSales University; 2755 Station Ave, Center Valley, PA 18034
Time: Start 9am-registration, until about 12noon
Date: October 16th, Saturday
Price: 10$ Students/ 15$ non-students
Details: You can register and pay the day of the event at 9am. (cash/check)
A silent auction will accompany the race featuring handmade Malawian and Zimbabwean artworks. Credit card, check or cash accepted for the silent auction portion. Short presentation to follow.
For pre-registration details, please email me at africaburnrelief@gmail.com.

I deeply thank the DeSales University PA Program Society for organizing and supporting this event.

In the Headlines...

September 3, 2010
A central Malawi newspaper, The Nation, reads; "Mother Recounts the Ordeal of Losing 2 Sons and Youngest Daughter" in what appeared to be a suicide ritual. The mother of the three ages 31, 27, and 16 perished after throwing themselves into a blazing fire outside of the parents home. Another child who initially survived, was taken to a Blantyre Hospital but later died of severe burns.
"The deaths followed three days and nights of continuous prayer to exorcise their parents of alleged witchcraft. One of the children undressed their 52 yr old mother and then attempted to throw her also in the fire, but she managed to escape. She and her husband fled the home running to neighbors for help. They returned just when the children were throwing themselves onto the fire, back first, hands clenching a Bible each. The tragic drama lasted for 5 hours." The mother stated, 'it hurts to recall the picture of my children jumping to their deaths. The loss of Annie, my youngest daughter, is the most painful out of the three because I know she was pushed. She was never part of the ritual.'

A Farewell and a Blister...

It has been only 6 weeks since we admitted Tim and baby Victor. After 3 surgeries each, the brothers who won the hearts of everyone on the ward, will return to their far away village with their parents and go-go(grandmother). I can hardly believe it is time to let them go. I must admit, I was in shock when Victor survived in the early days after his burn, particularly with all odds against him when we discovered he was also suffering from malaria. He will have challenging days ahead of him, but luckily his parents are incredibly supportive and I believe they will make every effort to return for the physical therapy he requires.
Tim has done remarkably well. He has a contagious smile. Many of the kids fear when they see me, because they know their dressing will be changed, but Tim was always calm, polite and we could always get a smile out of him (quite abnormal for my patients!).
They both came to my mind when I reached into the oven for a pan without a proper oven mit the other day (yes, stupid!). This of course burned my hand and hurt like all heck. Nothing would stop the pain unless I had it in ice cold water. It hurt for hours, and eventually a less than one centimeter blister appeared. We've all done this...but that night I could not imagine the scene for this family when their only 2 sons suffered burns over 20% of their little bodies. The pain had to be absolutely unbearable for the hours it took for them to arrive to the hospital. I am so happy the family somehow made it to our hospital. If they would have landed at the hospital closest to them they would have been in a ward that does not provide wound care or specialized surgery. I think the family realizes this, they thanked me endlessly every day I visited and many times over on their farewell day.
If you are a donor, you should be proud, helping to build this program gave this family their kids back today.