Life isn’t meant to be that hard!

soddo kids.jpg — Life is different in the countryside in Ethiopia. There are kids everywhere and they aren’t taught not to trust you. This may cause some problems but I think that they are less likely to be molested than in the West. Median age of Ethiopia is 19.

20121201_092717 copy — Only one arm (due to a native healer mishandling a fracture), but what a smile.

You may not want to read more if you’re a bit squeamish! But it isn’t as bad as many kid’s TV programs – except that it is real. I really loved the kids I dealt with!

This is the first time this boy stood up after about 6 months. He loved wearing my hat! He was terribly injured when he was run over by a cotton picking machine after having been hit by a car. His story has been told with some extra pictures in the link following. Abraham

This little girl had osteomyelitis of one of her neck vertebrae. The associated abscess made it difficult for her to breath so that she needed a tracheostomy. The abscess was drained and she has plaster around her chest and forehead, joined at the back in order to stop her rotating her neck and possibly breaking her neck. She did well and went home with no problems.

ac abd 1 — No kid should have to wait to get medical help until they are this sick!

hyena bite — The result of an episode with a hyena. This type of condition used to be seen when people survived being scalped. The first stage of treatment is to get the bare bone covered with granulation tissue by boring holes through the outer table of the skull. when covered it can be skin grafted.

This boy lost his leg when a local healer bound a fracture too tightly and it became gangrenous. He had stayed at home for so long that one of our major problems was getting his joints freed up again.

Dominic Cartier