Yesterday, a nurse

The other day, following my class at Khnar school, Lori (the president of the foundation) and I got out the huge first aid kit that she brings along to the school every few days. The kids now recognize the first aid kit, they run around making sure everyone at school knows, and they line up near the steps of the school. Because the students are frequently playing in fields and ditches, full of contaminated water, manure, insects etc. and due to the lack of cleanliness at home, simple scrapes that we all get as kids, can become life and death issues. 

Lori and I, with the help of Sovani (the Cambodian teacher whose class I am teaching in) and Chomnan (our tuk tuk driver) as translators, we checked out out any kids who had cuts that needed attending to. For the most part, according to Lori, the kids are doing much better than months ago when she began taking the first aid kit out there. Today we saw mostly scrapes, one fungal infection and only a couple of serious infected cuts. With just a portable bin of disinfectants and bandages, we are not miracle workers, but our goal was simply to clean the wounds and keep them bandaged if only for 24 hours, to help the medications start the healing process. 

I had begun taking a child or two over to the well to wash their cut before Lori attended to them, but as soon as they saw me helping out, I had my own line of patients waiting for help. I quickly learned the Khmer words to ask if it hurt, to which most kids will never admit that it does, but I occasionally got a wince from them while I cleaned it up. Our translators came in handy as we inquired when the cut happened, what was it from, did they have soap at home, and then passing on the info of how to take care of it once they were out of our care.

Occasionally Lori will get serious cases - a boy the other day had teeth growing behind his front teeth - basically on the roof of his mouth - he will be taken into Siem Reap (the school is an hour outside) and go to the Children's Hospital where most care is free for those under 13. One of the services that the PLF provides is the transportation to the hospital, as most of these students will never even  make it into town, as well as finding their parents if the child needs to be admitted. The hospital does not employ nursing staff or provide any food, so if a child is required to stay over night, Lori and Ponheary will head back out to the country to locate their parents and bring them into town.

For my part, I spent the better part of an hour, washing, bandaging but mostly being a mother to these kids - reassuring them, laughing with them. Part of the reason so many kids love coming to school is that it is a safe place. A place where they get a meal, they have friends and adults who look out for them, and with the recent installation by the PLF, they have clean water. 

J.