Dodi Island again

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Last weekend we went again to the infamous Dodi island to do some more medical work and plant some more mango trees etc.

This time we stayed on a peninsula that is only about 15 minutes by boat from the main land rather than staying all the way out on the island. Technically the island IS on the main land of course, but its not accessable unless you have a jungle motor bike. This peninsula is owned by an uncle of one of our friends, and it is being developed as an eco village. Although this peninsula is only a few miles above the hydro electric dam that supplies electricity to most of Ghana and the surrounding countries, neither the peninsula nor the island recieve any electricity. This issue is one of the many that Kojo (our friend)'s uncle is adressing in the communities in the area. He is an activist for the people, demanding electircity, accessable medical care, and some work for the environment. Erosion is a big problem in the area because of the fact that the lake itself is man made and the water level is controlled depending on the demand for electricity. This uncle has convinced the people to stop cutting down the trees and start planting new ones that grow quickly for fuel instead. he is also working on planting variteies of medicinal trees and fruit trees that in time will support hte local economy. This year the water is higher than it has been in seven years and without the reforestation efforts by the community a lot of the arable land would have been washed away.

Even with those few details you get the idea that his ideas are informed and his motivations are great. A lot of the village kids come out and plant trees and help with watering etc. in exchange the recieve free food and a guarentee that there will be some produce later on when they become sellers in the markets.

Besides planting trees ourselves, we got to work on the medical scene. I had studied up on Guinea worm, A parasite that is circulated from drinking unfilterd water that has been infected. The parasitic worm can grow to up to meter in legnth before it breaks through the skin to lay its eggs in water. This infection is very common in the area, and is very painful. i would say that about half of the children in the area suffer from this parasite. it can result in the loss of ability to walk ,and sometimes death by tetanus due to dirty wounds.

The treatment for this conditions is ironically to put the foot ( generally the worms make thier hole in the foot or ankle) into water until the worm sticks its head out to lay eggs. when it does this you must grab it and wrap it around a sting to prevent it from going back inside again. over a matter of days the worm must be pulled out little by littel until it is completely out. The onlyway to overcome this comepletely is to filter or boil water before drinking it.

After explaining this to the people ( if we dont explain this and help out, no one will, so its really a necessity!!) we began treatment on that as well as numerous other little infections. Cuts, scrapes and splinters that havnt been cleaned are ripe for infection in this tropical climate, so we spent a lot of time explaining the importance of cleaning and disinfecting wounds.

To my immense happiness the children we had treated the last time had healed and we much better off for our care. This motivated us in our work and also sent many more patients our way because they felt they could trust us now. I was very happy with our work, even though it left me very tired indeed!

more to come on what happens next!!

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