Maula Prison

This will be short. We did the prison clinic (Maula prison) today. We did this last year, too, and found rampant Norwegian scabies, poorly treated HIV/AIDS and general illness. It was emotionally very distressing.  We were prepared for the worst.  I am glad to say, this year was better!  It appears the clinical officier assigned to the prison has started HIV and TB testing, and is trying to get their medications on time. (I suspect a change in the government may have also helped with this). Charles Musuka (ABC student) has a ministry there and tries to bring some soap in every month or so, along with occasional distribution of clothing and religious tracts.  There are 2000 men in this prison.
Joseph and I were the 'doctors', while Carson and Sofia did the pharmacy. We know they have only one meal a day - nsima and beans. Malnutrition is an issue, especially for those men who also have HIV/ AIDs and /or TB.
Everyone we saw got vitamins and de-wormed. We happened to find the oral medication for Norwegian scabies (a true blessing) and so treated as many as we could, also handing out soap to those guys to wash their bodies and their clothes. We saw a variety of skin infections and conditions along with many, many cases of scabies. We also had the usual cough, asthma, body pains and old traumatic injuries. There were several cases of stomach problems. I did see two men that I suspect have an underlying cancer (one of the esophagus, one colon). We did NOT see any Kaposi's sarcoma - last year I lost count of how many of those I saw. That is another indication that the HIV/AIDs treatment is getting better.  The guards wanted the clinic to end by ~noon, so we obliged. I think we saw everyone that was acutely ill that we could help.  At the end of the clinic, there were prisoners begging for soap. We had already distributed all the soap we brought. This is not good soap, either - bars of green soap for laundry and bathing, with a funky smell and no lather. We bought a couple of cases, but they were soon gone.

The crowd became unruly at the end, when the guards wanted the clinic to end. Charles and Joseph were outside at the time, assessing patients, and the guards told them to get back from the fence (the guards, by the way, were NOT on the side of the fence with the prisoners....or with Joseph and Charles!). With that said, none of us ever felt threatened by the prisoners - they were just desperate for help and soap. All in all, it was a good clinic, in a tiny space and we feel like we may have alleviated some human misery by treating the scabies.

For those of you who donate (or have considered donating) - a bar of the green soap (bought by the case) costs about 20 cents. If you think your small donation 'won't be much help', think of men begging for soap.

Maula Prison does not allow photos during the clinic. Trust me, you don't want to see them, anyway. Norwegian scabies is a nasty, disfiguring, miserable disease.

Praise:
Safety in the prison
Ability to help some of the prisoners.
Finding the right medications that so many needed

Prayer:
Pray for the men -and women- in this prison, as well as other prisons throughout developing countries. Generally the legal system does not work well in these countries, and the health care is almost non-existent in the prisons.
Continue prayer for our safety.