blue skies, cloudy internet...

The hospital has a resource center with computers and internet that we are allowed to use, but the server is down (all the time), and the admins like to blame it on the cloud cover :) (note: cloud cover has nothing to do with internet availability. In addition, it's bright and sunshiny out).

We went on more rounds today. A few of the children were better from yesterday and were sent home. The hardest thing to deal with, however, are the cases in which we can do very little. For example, there was a baby with cerebral palsy, who could barely support his head. There are so few resources here that conditions like his are left with very little opportunity for intervention. In the US he would have access to different forms of therapy. Here, his only ally is his mother, who will struggle to keep him alive and breathing for the rest of his short life. She was crying in the bed, although he remained silent.

Sometimes the pediatric ward is so overbearing that I have to go outside for real air and sunlight. I am in awe of the staff here. I don't know how they cope with these conditions- the thick air which wreaks of human waste, children crying, children too sick to cry, a general sense of despair- no amount of reading or preparation could have equipped me to deal with this. It is my hope and my fear that I will grow so used to it that it no longer phases me.

We had our first training session with some of the staff today; it went really well and we are excited to continue with the series.

Pictures coming soon, I promise!