Mobility Is Key to Life

These hand powered carts allow disabled people to get around. We use them for polio patients, amputees, undiagnosed neurologic disorders, but mostly for TB patients.

Here, transport to TB clinic for treatment is a family affair. This Mom with spinal TB was finally able to sit up but could not yet get the hang of using her arms. Her young son is proud to “drive” his mom around town, including a daily trip to the clinic for her directly observed medication. In the background is the base of the water tower! The tower supplies water for the TB patients so they can drink their tablets under the watchful eyes of the staff, and runs through pipes to get to the shower, the latrines, the hospital and for washing the solar panels!

This young girl above arrived with fevers we could not figure out. She had pus in the deep compartments surrounding her femur – pyomyositis. Syringing out the pus helped, but she continued to fever despite good antibiotics. Then we treated her for TB. Her fevers left, her smile returned and she is going around again with a walker!

This litle one had hydrocephalus. She talks, and laughs but has not walked for more than a year. She was scooting around on the ground, but now with her new walker, she can use her arms to steady herself on her partially paralyzed legs. They come from far.

Neurosurgery is not an option in South Sudan. Even if she got a shunt what would happen if it blocked? She and mom are grateful that she is back on her feet. Scooting around on rough ground, or in floodwater is hard!

OH MY GOSH – May 3, 2025 – NOW OFFICIALLY A WAR CRIME

May third at 3 am, the drones came first. By 4:30 am the people of Old Fangak awoke to “loud thunderbolt sounds of machine gun fire from helicopter gunships”. Random, scary, gunships just flying from the TB compound and the hospital compound where SSMR and MSF work....

OLD FANGAK, DECEMBER 2024

Warm greetings from Old Fangak! Last month’s floodwaters were said to be the highest in 125 years. Daily temperatures are consistently 5 to 8 degrees above normal. It’s hot and muggy, with swarms of mosquitos to spread malaria and make us all scratch. Land in our area...

August 2024 Hot Off the Press

There is suddenly and unexpectedly an unprecedented  increase in flooding around Old Fangak. It started raining like crazy. Thousands of people have had to evacuate to the North. Not again! Lake Victoria, the source of the river, recently reached its highest level in...

Our Broader Health Care Continues

We are so lucky to have Dr. James Wal back with us! He sees outpatients that really need more expertise than our clinical officers can provide. Here is an example: A lovely three year old little girl came in with one eye bulging while Jill was overseas. Our program...

Global Warming and Old Fangak

Well, the first week the thermometer hit 110 degrees, the government decided to close schools to protect the kids. They sent a memo advising people to drink lots, submerge in water, and get shade. When the high temperatures persisted after a week, the kids got to...