Julia and Maria

In August, 2015, we visited a group of Samburu women who live near Tanginyeusi Primary School. An old woman named Maria Leswda approached us and showed us her right hand; it had atrophied into a gnarled fist. Two years earlier, an Acacia tree thorn had become embedded in her wrist. The wound became infected and worsened until she could no longer move her fingers.

We took her to Cottage Hospital, accompanied by her 26 year old niece, Maria. Maria had four young children and was pregnant with her fifth child. She was missing all but the heel of her right foot, which had been removed after it was burned in a fire in her mud hut.

At Cottage Hospital, doctors told Maria she would need surgery to take out the long thorn and they would try to repair the damaged tendons. Maria was told she couldn’t eat or drink before surgery the next day; however, because no one in the hospital spoke Samburu, she was confused and angry because she wasn’t being fed.

It took the nurses hours to convince Maria to take off her large beaded necklace because she was convinced they wanted to steal it.

Off to Cottage Hospital wearing one of the volunteer’s hats.

After Maria’s surgery, both women stayed with us for a week. Maria’s hand needed to be kept clean and she needed good food and rest. Both Maria and Julia were accustomed to eating one meal a day and had never eaten most of the food we served. Maria had never seen a television or a computer. We showed them a Charlie Chaplin movie and realized that Maria was making judgements about our whole culture based on what she was seeing.

Everyone enjoyed the week together. We laughed a lot, danced and sang together and learned basic phrases in one another’s languages. Despite all the conveniences of our home, Maria and Emily were excited to go home. When we drove into the community, Julia’s children surrounded her, sobbing. They thought she was never coming back.

Maria’s hand never fully opened; however, she is free of the pain and grateful for this.