Rotaplast Missions

See you next year, Chittagong!

After a very busy 11 days in Chittagong, it is time to say goodbye.  The Rotary Club of Agrabad joined us for a farewell dinner Friday night at the Chittagong Boat Club.  We were given wonderful personalized plaques of appreciation as well as a Rotary flag.  

 

The team wore the salwar kameez and shirts that Nasreen had made for us.  There were so many beautiful colors and it was a great way to end the busy two weeks we have had.

Clinic day was also a success and all but one patient was sent home, some to return to see the local Nurture doctor for follow-up care.

Here are a few more before/after photos showing the amazing work of the surgeons and the true resiliance of these beautiful children.

 

This was an amazing group, and I was so sad to say goodbye to such wonderful, caring people. Although there were long long long days and crazy time zone differences, this trip was an amazing success. See you all in January! Until next year, Chittagong!

Besides surgery, what else is going on?

Besides the 92 surgeries that were performed by Rotaplast over the seven days we had at Nurture Hospital, there were other great things to do and see throughout the days.  Brian and Bo donated 12 prosthetic hands that they brought on the mission to provide to patients that were missing one or both hands.  After searching for the first week for anyone that could fit this description, word finally got out around town that we had hands.  On Thursday, we had quite a few happy visitors that left with much more dexterity and the ability to write, something they may not have been able to do for a long time.

 

This man lost both hands in an electrical accident.  The accident had happened five years before, and he had been living with no hands since.  When Brian strapped the hand to his arm, it was like it had been there all his life.  The smile he gave us when he could write his name for the first time was enough to cloud my eyes with tears.  He started using the hand so naturally, you could tell it was going to change his life.  

All 12 hands were given to appreciative and happy patients and yet another aspect of this Rotaplast mission was successful.

 

I also found time during our long days at the hospital to visit the school Nasreen started across the street from the hospital.  It is a free school for any child that wants to go.  So far, she has children in grades up to six and she said she will add more as her classes graduate to the next grade.  It was amazing to walk into a big room and see four classes in session, with children listening dilligently, even though there was only a small partition separating each class.  The "nursery school" section was the biggest class.  It encompassed any child, no matter what age, that was just starting school.  They had tiny individual chalkboards and were learning the English alphabet while we were there.  Their teacher was a former patient at Nurture Hospital that stayed on to teach at Nurture School.  

 These students are from the area around the hospital where there are no public schools.  Through donations, Nasreen is able to provide a hot meal for students every day.  Some kids come to school without shoes, but are successfully learning in such a caring environment.

 

Tomorrow is our last day, it is clinic day.  The surgeons, pediatricians and nurses will check up on all the patients that come back to see how they are healing.  It is going to be so sad to say goodbye to all these sweet, smiling faces.

It's all downhill from here!

After a lovely day of sightseeing it is back to work! Monday at Nurture Hospital had 12 surgeries.

One little girl has been here at the hospital since in-take day last Wednesday. Her name is Ayesha and she is striking. She came from her village Bashkali on the bus with her father, Nobi. They found out about this Rotaplast mission from a poster a friend saw in Chittagong. She is the youngest of 6 sisters, and attends school in her village of 250 people. We asked her father about their life in the village; he is a taxi driver who started out as a rickshaw driver. He saved money and bought a taxi. Nobi makes 400 takas daily, but half goes back into gas and repair of his taxi so he takes home the equivalent of $2.50. Making sure his children get educated is all he cares about he said when we asked how he feels about having six daughters. He himself can only write his name. “The more they learn, the better I feel,” he said through a translator.

Ayesha before and after. What a transformation.

There is another interesting gentleman we have at Nurture. Rana Mohammad came to our intake with barely a top lip. The doctors decided to perform an abbe flap to make him an upper lip. The procedure involved sewing his bottom lip up over his top lip and keeping it there for a week. After a week, they will cut his mouth open and flip the skin down to make two lovely lips. It is amazing what these surgeons can do in a week. Rana has to stay at the hospital the whole time, and since most of the patients are children and he is 20, he interacts a lot with us using sign language. Our dentist, Aaron, gave him a copy of his Ernest Hemmingway book of short stories because he can read English. He sat with Sherry today in the office, keeping her company and asking everyone to take pictures with him. His operation to split the skin will be on Thursday, so I will share some good after photos then.

Aaron  with Rana who will have a second operation on Thursday to split his lips.

 Today put us officially downhill, we are more than halfway done with surgeries with three days remaining. By the end of this day, there have been 45 successful operations. One of them was my little happy baby Tasmin who went home today after being here for four days; she had her fused fingers separated on Friday.

Tasmin, a little cutie, before she was discharged.

The local Rotary clubs of some of the Rotaplast volunteers have donated some beautiful things for the mission. Sherry Maligaspe, who is from Aurora Rotary club of Kamloops, brought crayons, flashlights and handmade wooden cars to share with patients. Bo Morse, a member of the Rotary Club of Concord, brought 12 prosthetic hands, teddy bears and beanie babies. Ted Alex brought chocolate to share and he is a member of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.  Brian Walker, our mission director, also contributed to the prosthetic hand donations, he is a member of the Rotary Club of Garberville.

 

One of our "regulars" on the ward, our good boy Mohammad getting a teddy bear from Bo.

A busy day off

Thanks to both the Rotary clubs of Agrabad and Rangamati Lake City, we had an amazing day trip today to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It was a national holiday (Mohammed’s birthday) so our drive up and back was riddled with buses filled to the brims, crammed people sitting on the roof with loud speakers blaring preachings as they drove to mosque. It really was quite an interesting sight.

All different Rotary clubs were represented at our tea time with the Rangamati Lake City Rotary

 In Rangamati, we were introduced to the Rangamati Lake City Rotary. We took a tour of the lake and enjoyed our lunch at Peda Ting Ting, a “wilderness restaurant.” Our boat ride brought us throughout the manmade lake where we saw local fishermen, ferry boats, tourists boats with families inside, and a clusters of individual islands with houses on them. I was able to spot one solar panel, otherwise these hill people live without electricity, and their only means of communication is through boats.

Local fishermen on the lake

 

The view of Rangamati from our boat.

 
We had live Bengali music on the boat, and Joel got up and mastered their "accordion" to play 'Aint No Sunshine When She's Gone'

 After our wonderful tour of the lake and our daring drive through rush hour back into the city, we had one more stop to make to end our day of leisure.  We were invited to dinner by Nasreen and her husband at their home in Chittagong. They made a feast for us! All of the Rotaplast volunteers plus all the local volunteers enjoyed a great dinner with good friends. We are so appreciative to Nasreen for all her hospitality.

Our interpreter, Rayhana, standing with our beautiful feast she and her cousin, Nasreen, made.

 

Volunteers from both groups enjoying dinner at Nasreen's home.

What a busy day! Back to work tomorrow!

Busy third day of surgery in beautiful Chittagong

 

Our little love Simran went home this morning.  I could not believe the outcome of her surgery, the transformation was remarkable. 

 

Surgeries, surgeries, surgeries!  Today, day 3 of operating, we had 11 surgeries.  Out of those 7 were cleft lips and palate. 

 

Our dentist, Aaron, has also been very busy.  He has extracted 25 teeth in the last three days.  He also has a mini laboratory where he is building obturators (which block holes in the palate).  He is also making dentures and a fake middle tooth to bridge a gap. 

Aaron removing a tooth.

Carolyn, the speech pathologist, visits every patient after surgery to review guidelines for feeding, giving recommendations for how they can eat to preserve the surgery.  Depending upon what the problem is, she provides education about what they can do to make speech better, particularly with children that have had palate surgery.  On this particular trip, she and the dentist decided on clinic day that oral care was lacking.  Since she sees every patient after surgery, she has been teaching good oral care practices and has given out one toothbrush not per patient, but per family member. 

Carolyn doing a follow up with a patient with a cleft palate (he was such a little gentleman. he shook hands with everyone as he was leaving :-))

Tomorrow is our first day off and we will be going to Rangamati in the Hill Tracts.  We will take a boat tour of the lake and enjoy local food and crafts.  A well-deserved day off!

Meet Nasreen and Shantui

Being a first timer, I've been wondering how these trips are possible.  The organization of it all, the determination and stamina of the doctors and nurses, the dedication of the other volunteers, how did this all happen? For this specific mission, the hospital space was donated, we were given 20 local volunteers, the Rotary advertised for months before we arrived to gather patients, and now we have a well-running surgical center where over 100 people will benefit from our mission.  Obviously, alot of the organization comes from the Rotaplast staff, shipping 37 perfectly labeled boxes with everything we need to set up a fully functioning office and operating room.  None of this could be possible however without our host and the owner of Nurture Hospital, Nasreen.

Nasreen with a picture of her father that hangs at Nurture

I asked Nasreen why she decided to open her free hospital.  She has twin sons that are now getting their PhD at Cambridge.  They were born premature and when they were young had a multitude of health problems.  It was fortunate that she could afford to pay for their medical attention, but she wondered what would happen if she couldn't; and that's how the idea of Nurture started.  With the money she saved from owning a beauty parlor she was able to buy the land where nurture was located.

Through a generous donation she was able to build this five story hospital where people can receive free medical care.  Her goal is to turn Nurture into a destination for international medical organizations, like Rotaplast, full time.  Currently, she has three doctors and four nurses on staff.  Our awesome volunteers were recruited by her sons through skype and facebook and her daughter helps out at the hospital.     

Today, being less hectic, has been great for me as I've had time to talk with some families through our interpreters.

Shantui and her father before she went in for surgery

There's been one patient that has stood out to me since the first day, and today I was able to talk to her father about their history.  Shantui is a 12 year old girl from the hill tracts outside the city.  Her town is called Khagrachari and it is five hours by car from the hospital. She was carried into our intake day because her legs were so badly burned she could not walk.  The doctors were able to perform a skin graft and fix her legs yesterday, so hopefully one day she can walk.  The pediatrician, Len, and I were curious as to how her legs were damaged and the family's general background.  Her father was able to tell us with the help of our interpreter, Rayhanna.  When Shantui was one, a land till fell on her legs.  Because the family had no money, she was not taken to the hospital and has suffered ever since.

She had eight brothers and sisters, however four have passed away from illness and lack of money for medical care.  We wondered how the family was able to afford this five hour trip to Nurture Hospital.  There is an army camp not far from the village where they live.  The army men saw posters that the Rotary had posted and offered to drive the two down to be examined.  While here, since the father has no money, Nasreen has been providing him food.  The outpouring of support is so incredible here in Bangladesh, it is inspiring.  A volunteer brought crayons to give out to the older children and asked me to bring them up to Shantui.  She had no idea what they were.  I learned from the interpreter that she had never seen crayons before.  I drew her a heart and a sun to show her how they worked and this girl smiled for the first time in three days.  She grabbed an orange crayon and wouldn't put it down.  Every day has seen a new, humbling experience for me here in this beautiful country.  When we asked Shantui's father what he thinks will happen in the future, all he said was that he is so happy and thankful now.  And that he will pray for us. 

Shantui's first time using crayons (I drew the heart and sun for her to show her how its done :-))

Today was a great day, and we even made it back to the hotel before the last bits of sun were gone.

As a sneak peek for tomorrow's blog, here is my little love bug Simran before she went into surgery today.  This girl has the most beautiful and expressive eyes I've seen on a baby (she's 11 months).  If you walk up to her, she lights up and smiles at you then gets shy and cuddles into her mother or father's chest.  I adore her, and so does everyone else.

After photo of Simran will be posted tomorrow.

Day 1 was a Success

What a day!  Along with the 230+ patients the clinic saw today, we were also visited by the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh's wife, two national newspapers and a local news crew that managed to get their camera in and out of every tight room we occupied.  Those that sought help yesterday were all ages, it truly was incredible.  The medical records department, headed by Sherry, saw and entered every single patient that walked through our doors.  Screening involved the help of 20 local volunteers that were invaluable to the team.  They did initial interviews, interpreted for the surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologies, pediatricians, the dentist and speech pathologist.  They also helped keep the organized chaos that lead to a very successful day, ending in 97 scheduled surgeries in seven days.

the wife of U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh visits the hospital during in-take 

The scene at Nurture Hospital was crowded but generally happy.  Groups of families waited downstairs on the first floor for their number to be called to come upstairs.  Our office was a long hallway with six rooms, each had a specific function.  As patients were guided through, they were consulted by the surgeons and then seen by the pediatricians and anesthesiologists, had their hemoglobin and other vital signs examined then finished by seeing our dentist and speech pathologist.  Like I said, it was organized chaos. 

Surgeons doing a consultation of a young boy.

I, as the photojournalist, was lucky enough to see and meet every patient that came in yesterday.  I was so humbled by their grateful, happy spirits, the smiles on their faces and how they tried to speak English with me as much as they could.  One little girl, dressed in a purple salwar kameez, was carried by her mother over to me and she looked me in the eyes, smiled and said "Thaaaaaaaaaaank Youuuuuuuuuuu." I was rejuvenated.  There were so many kids like her, with their tiny voices saying thank you.  One mother was trying to get her daughter to look at the camera for me, and she said "auntie, auntie" and the little girl turned and looked and gave me a huge smile.  Oh man, I love these kids. I'm hooked.

the line waiting to be screened during in-take day 

The majority of surgeries scheduled over the next seven days are cleft lip and palate; however there are a large number of burn related surgeries as well.  It's nice that the surgeons have flexibility in what they can do, so we can treat more children, whether they have cleft issues or not.  It's great to say that we have a happy and enthusiastic group of patients, and it's going to be exciting to see them throughout the next week.

 

 
Pediatrician Leonard Friedman interacting with a patient.

Other eventful activities: we had a wonderful welcome dinner hosted by the Rotary clubs of Chittagong and neighboring areas.  The enthusiasm these Rotarians have can get anyone excited.  They are a wonderully jovial bunch with a true love of service for others.  And I will say, I have never received so many flowers in my life.  Three bouquets and the richest lei I have ever laid eyes on.  We also enjoyed a lovely dinner hosted by the Ispahani family in their home on a little oasis in the midst of chaos that is Chittagong.  Their genuine hospitality made us all feel very welcome.

The team at our welcome dinner hosted by the local Rotary club.

Tomorrow surgeries begin!  Write  to you then!

 

 

 



Ae Je from Chittagong!

Its been an incredible journey but the team has arrived in Chittagong, Bangladesh!  We are currently acclimating to time, temperature and pollution in our beautiful hotel, Well Park.  Having just finished lunch, the medical team has been spending time organizing the schedule for tomorrow's hectic day. 

Upon our arrival into Chittagong International Airport, we were greeted by the enthusiastic Rotary Club of the area.  After gathering all 30+ mission boxes from the baggage claim, the team left customs and was immediately given beautiful leis, the most lush and hearty and wonderful smelling leis I have ever seen. 

 

The drive to the hotel from the airport was relatively long, but great for me to get to know the people in my car.  I, being neither a Rotarian nor a medical specialist, have had a great time learning about these amazing volunteers and why they choose to take their own time and money to help children in other countries.  One surgeon even said he wishes he could retire early just to volunteer full time, and in response, an anesthesiologist said that's exactly what he did.  The passion and love that I have already witnessed amongst these volunteers is incredible and I can't wait to see their hard work benefit the lives of over 100 children in these next two weeks. 

About Chittagong so far: I've never seen so many people smile at foreigners.  The driving is frightening, the roads clogged with rickshaws, tuk-tuks, cars, vans and buses with not a single stop light or stop sign that I could find.  Apparently, the country is known for it's "rickshaw art" on the sides of rickshaws, and even big trucks.  The paintings are colorful and all different.  The city sits on a river and we saw so many freighters, tanks and even little wooden row boats that almost resemble decked-out gondolas, but still dwarfed by the tankers flowing up and down the river.

 

This was the truck that we loaded up all 30+ boxes into to go straight from the airport to the hospital.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, apparently there are over 300 children that will be coming to the clinic to seek attention, if the surgeons perform 15 surgeries a day, which is feasible, then hopefully a big dent can be put into that number. 

Until then, wish us luck on our jetlag and send good thoughts our way.

Thanks!

The group enjoying the first of many great meals to come in Chittagong.

 

p.s. "ae je" is how you say "hello"