Eye Clinic

Joel has conjunctivitis, worse than he has ever had it before. It is not unusual to suffer with conjunctivitis in Dodoma, especially in this Dry Season, when dust and sand are blown about all day and night in the arid air.  Poor Joel: his red, weeping eyes look so sore. Last night, he woke up in the night screaming, as he could not open his eyes, stuck together with the unpleasant eye-discharge. He was so was afraid of the darkness that resulted. Happily, we know an eye doctor from the UK, who works at the university across town. We contacted him and he told us that, in the morning, he would be carrying out a free eye clinic in the centre of town, so if I brought Joel along early, he would examine his eyes! That was good timing for us.

I duly set off  with Joel and accompanied by my new friend Stacey (a new MAF family, from Australia, here in Dodoma for a  year). As we walked across the town square, nice and early in the morning, we were a little taken aback at how many potential patients had already arrived for the free eye-screening clinic!

The equipment was all set up on one side of the town square, ready to start the examinations:

But there were no free chairs for me and Joel to join the throng of patients- and this is only at 9 o'clock in the morning! The people just kept on arriving and arriving...it was a busy place to be and I wondered how on earth I could get Joel seen before sunset if I joined the crowds sitting behind us! Little Joel was also feeling a bit too warm and I didn't want him to get more unwell with a slowly rising fever by hanging about in the hot sun...

To entertain the multitude, the sponsors of the free eye screening event had set up an elaborate, colourful tent from which to make speeches exalting the virtues of their own work and also encouraging people to make the most of this great opportunity to get a free eye test. In a country where health care is an expensive service that must be paid for by patients, I felt it was justifiable to have all this pomp and ceremony in order to advertise a healthcare service that was actually free for today! There were even TV cameras filming the event!

The Doctor had not yet arrived. We stood and listened to the speeches for a few minutes, but were conscious that we were attracting attention as the only non-Tanzanians present. People seemed rather curious as to why we would be there. Starting to feel a little uncomfortable, I sent a text message to Doctor Brian to let him know that we were waiting with the crowds at the Square. His surprised response made me laugh: "Is there a crowd?" Oh, yes, I thought, just wait until you see how many people are here to greet you! It was going to be a busy day for the eye doctor!

A few minutes later, Dr Brian arrived in town. Sensitive to the fact that many, many people wanted to see him, but that he had promised to look at Joel early on, he very wisely suggested that I should bring Joel across the road to the ice-cream parlour so that he could examine him quietly, out of view of the busy crowd. I was very grateful for this suggestion. It meant that Joel could be seen quickly, without sparking the resentment of other patients who didn't know the situation. It could be very awkward if the Dr arrived and immediately singled out one patient from all the others, especially those who had arrived before us- and it would look like favouritism if the white child was given precedence over all the other Tanzanian children present. It was so kind of Dr Brain to take a few minutes before his hectic day to look at Joel's eyes.

It was wonderful to have the professional advice of an expert and to receive a prescription for eye drops that I could be confident was the correct dosage and age-appropriate. This is not always a luxury that we have available to us in Dodoma. Huge thanks to the doctor today for making our day 100 times easier than it could have been if he hadn't told us about the clinic or taken time to see Joel.
I have to say, it is the first time any of my children have had a medical consultation in an ice-cream parlour! But there's a first time for everything! It was rather pleasant to sit at the plastic tables during the eye consultation, with a carton of refreshing mango juice I had just purchased -this is something I've never been able to do in England when my children go to see the doctor at the eye-clinic!