Power Up Gambia Blog

Since we arrived there has been a baby in the surgical ward recovering from severe burns.  Her story is heartbreaking. One morning, while her mother was boiling water to make coffee, little Mariama accidently pulled the pot from the charcoal stove on top of herself. Mariama, no more than 2 years old, burned 40% of her body. Her mother took her to their village’s traditional healer in hopes that he could help. He covered Mariama’s injuries with what looked like mud, but no one at the hospital really knows its composition. When Mariama’s condition did not improve her mother brought her to SJGH, over an hour away from her home.  Marie, the head of the surgical ward, has cared for her since her arrival – cleaning Mariama of the mud and constant removal of dead skin. When I approached Mariama for the first time, she burst into tears and buried her face in her mother’s chest. With my white coat, Mariama probably thought was coming to clean her injuries - an extraordinarily painful process. Marie informed me that she was giving Mariama only paracetamol (Tylenol) to manage the pain. Yikes! The hospital does not currently have anything stronger. Mariama is strong, she has to be. When I left the ward today she was quietly breastfeeding, about to dose off. The image of her burned body is forever etched in my memory.