Yaws

After last weekend’s fight for life, it was refreshing to have a relaxing day yesterday, just a few kids with some of the normal stuff, for here anyway.
Two of the more remarkable cases that we saw today were the brothers with Yaws. The older one has a large ulcer on his knee and other smaller sores on his feet. The younger one has sores all over his feet and on his hands. They both have a very high pain tolerance. It is amazing that they are able to walk with their wounds, and they don't even wince when we wash, treat and bandage them. The medical texts will tell you this is a rare disease only seen in some pygmy populations. Well, it is seen here in the Baka pygmy population. Yaws is a skin infection that causes a large ulcer called a mother yaw and progresses with several smaller lesions appearing later. Oral penicillin treats it, and, believe it or not, soap and water prevents it, 100%.
It's still hard for me to understand how a kid can grow up without being washed, at least once a week, especially in a place like this, where kids get so dirty. But water is at least a walk away, and soap costs money and seems unnecessary to some. After a recent trip where I stayed in a Baka camp for a few days, I better understand that water is a valuable commodity, not to be wasted, but I still value cleanliness. And there is more than just soap and water at play here. These kids just lost their elderly father and their mother seems to play the part of victim, powerless to make any improvements in life.
I hope that as we care for these two kids, the whole family begins understand that we love them. I hope that our love clearly reflects the love of Christ.