An Ox Cart Ride Home

21 July Monday

Watched as an elderly woman was discharged this afternoon and loaded into a waiting ox cart for the ride home.

You can hardly see her in this photo. She's lying down behind the seated woman. The family was eager for me to take the photo. They were quite pleased with the results on the digital playback. Perhaps also glad to know someone is paying attention?

Other random observations:

The hospital doesn't send ambulances out at night anymore as there have been a couple of attempted hijackings.

There's a guardian with every patient except in the labor ward. Too many grandmothers were giving their daughters or daughters-in-law a powerful traditional medicine to induce contractions and it was leading to many instances of ruptured uteruses.

(NB: This post was written on site in rural northern Malawi and posted now that I again have internet access.)