PRAfrica
Poverty Relief
２学期も大詰め、期末テストが終わり、終業日まで登校不要となった中・低学年の子供たちが図書館に来るようになり、写真のようにすし詰め状態。
The second Term is coming to an end, and final exams are over. Students in the middle and lower grades, who don’t need to attend school through the last day, have been coming to the library, and it is packed, as you can see.
その中、Ａnywar Patrickアニワーパトリック（10歳 写真前列右端 兄Omara Jamesオマラ ジェームス12歳は就学支援中）が“貧血”で瀕死の事態に陥ってしまいました！
彼はもうかれこれ5，6年図書館に“通学”していて今年1学期から“正式”就学支援する予定でしたが、悪性の貧血*のため体調不良になることが頻繁で、就学手続きの時期を逸し、今学年も引き続き図書館で学んでいました。今回は元々の貧血に加え、マラリアを併発し、意識不明の重体に‼ 多量の輸血が必要でしたが、Kitgumだけでなく北部地域ではGuluなどの大病院でも血液が無い！… 母親（前列真ん中）からの輸血も限界で、「もうだめか…」と思われましたが、ギリギリのところでようやく血液が届き、ご覧のように回復しました！ ずっと付ききりで世話をし、何度も血液を提供しているお母さんも疲れ果てていますが、まずは一安心。数日様子を見、状態が安定すれば退院の予定です。
*貧血：当地では、鎌状細胞貧血などそれ自体で致命的となる悪質な貧血患者が大変多い。それに加えてマラリアを併発し亡くなる例も多い。救命には輸血が必要ですが、Kitgumなど貧しい北部地域では、劣悪な住環境によるマラリア罹患率が非常に高く輸血用血液不足が恒常的。Kampalaなどに転院したくても体力もお金も無く…重篤な事態に陥る人が大勢います。
Among those students, Anywar Patrick, 10, (front row, right) was near death with a severe case of anemia. After studying at the library for five or six years, he was scheduled to receive our support to attend school starting the first term of this school year. (His brother Omara James, 12, receives support from the library.) But he frequently became ill because of his anemia* and missed the chance to enroll in school. So he is studying at the library again this year. In addition to his anemia, he also got malaria and was unconscious in critical condition. He needed numerous transfusions, but there was no blood available in Kitgum or at the big hospital in Gulu, also in northern Uganda. The best he could get was transfusions from his mother (front row, center),but it reached the limit. It was feared he would die, but a supply of blood arrived just in time, and, as you can see from the photo, he has recovered. His mother, who tended him the entire time and repeatedly donated blood for him, is exhausted but relieved. If Anywar Patrick continues to do well, he will be released from the hospital in a few days.
*Many people in this region suffer from sickle-cell anemia and other serious forms of anemia that can be fatal. When anemia is accompanied by malaria, many people die. Life-saving transfusions are necessary. In Kitgum and the rest of northern Uganda, a high percentage of people are infected with malaria as a result of their poor living environment, so there is a constant shortage of blood for transfusions. Even if patients wish to be transported to hospitals in Kampala, many of them are not strong enough or can’t afford to do so. Many of these people become gravely ill.
もう一つ“無い”のは、新図書館の書棚！ 東京の外務省に承認されたＢＯＱ（資材の数量、コストの一覧表）に基づきスチール製を購入しようと業者がKampalaに出向き何日も東奔西走しましたが見つからず… 大使館にＢＯＱの書き換えをお願いし、当地の家具作り業者に木材製を作ってもらうことになりました。折悪しく雨期の真っただ中、停電も多く、材料の木材を十分乾燥させるのに時間が必要で、出来上がりはまだ先…、従いまして、先月半ばの大使館ＧＧＰ担当Ｓ氏の来訪で一気に進んだのがまた足踏み状態。やっぱりＴＩＡ！＝This is Africa~!!
しかし、アヤノさん、着々と新図書館のため、いろいろ用意してくれています。
今取り組み中なのは、現図書館で愛用してきた“ＬＩＢＲＡＲＹ”の掛物＝以前のボランティアさんが段ボール紙と折り紙で作ってくれたもの、長年月、風雨に耐えすっかり傷んでしまいましたが、手作りの味わいが捨てがたかった…＝のリメーク！
There is also a shortage of bookshelves for the new library. The supplier who was to purchase steel bookcases based on the bill of quantities (BOQ) approved by the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo spent several days in Kampala searching for some with no luck. It was decided to ask the embassy to revise the BOQ and have wooden bookcases made by a local furniture maker. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the rainy season, there were many power outages, and time is required to dry the wood. So the shelves will not be finished for a while. Accordingly, the progress that followed last month’s visit by S-san, the embassy official in charge of the grant program, has come to a halt. Oh, well. This is Africa! But, Ayano-san is steadily getting things ready for the new library. Right now she is remaking our “LIBRARY” sign. The current sign was made by a former volunteer from cardboard and origami paper. After years of exposure to the weather, it is damaged, but we wanted to stick with a handmade sign.