Friday, the 26th of June, we traveled over an hour out of Lilongwe to the 'bush' where there is a prison for youth. These boys have been convicted. There are ~89 boys there. There is nothing much around, except beautiful scenery. Because they are so far from towns, they have been overlooked. The youngest I saw was 14 but I was told there are a couple of 13 year old boys here. Charles Msukwa, who is running Amazing Grace Ministries for the Maula prisoners, has taken on this small prison unit also. He has managed to get H2O ministries interested enough to build a clinic which is almost complete. It will have an exam room, a room for pharmacy and labs and a 'short stay' area with 4-5 beds. He says there are no clinics / hospitals anywhere near the prison, so he expects that women from the nearby villages may start coming to the clinic to have their babies. (can you even imagine that in the US??) There is a borehole (well) but no running water in the clinic. Since the clinic is not finished, the administrator graciously let us use his office space for an exam room, and the small pharmacy area they have, they turned over to us for our pharmacy / lab /wound care. They have almost no medications and little wound care supplies. The boys actually looked pretty healthy, no one was terribly malnourished and most of the complaints were the usual body aches, stomach aches, cough and dental pain. We treated a couple cases of possible malaria - another was borderline and his test was negative. We also treated the guards and their families if they needed treatment. There were a few wounds, but remarkably none were infected. The prisoners and the guards were all most gracious. For those of you who would consider coming with me - the prisons here are NOT like the prisons in the US (at least in my experience). Everyone is grateful that you care enough to come. They are polite and appreciative. The administrators and the guards do the best that they can do with so little resources. Often there is no transport to take a sick prisoner to a hospital. Charles tries to take soap into the prison when he has funds given for soap, etc. If you are interested in any of Charles' prison ministry, get in touch with me and I can get you to the right people for you to donate, for your church, your Sunday school class, whatever. Jesus specifically mentioned visiting people in prison.... these indeed are some of the 'least of these' and you can 'visit' them through your support. Enjoy the photos!
We are standing in the 'waiting area' of the new clinic. To the right are the two exam rooms. This is Louis (translator), Julie Hoskison, RN, Jollyn translator becoming pharmacist, me and Maggie Maseko, med student and translator.
The boys lining up to be seen
Maggie checking oxygen on a patient - being the hands of Christ.
My office, with Maggie translating.
Sign for new clinic, may not be finished by July 1 but pretty close! Thanking the Lord for H2O ministries!
Julie doing a malaria test.
The team - Maggie, me, Jollyn, Julie, Charles Msukwa and Louis.
Outside of new clinic with guys hard at work.
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