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Back to Guangxi… 10-13 Jan, 2005 • Three Rotarians, Maureen, Colman and Pauline, with 2 Optometry staff and 4 Optometry students braved the cold weather (not that cold really but much colder than HK!) and went back to Guangxi. And of course, our staunch volunteers Linda and Dora went along too. This time, we also have Dr Li Nian from Sun Yat Sen Medical University, and she helped us to prescribe and purchase the medication required for trachoma.
With us were 41 pairs of new, gleaming spectacles for the Middle School students, and bags and bags of new towels (like in the story of Alladin, we were going for “new for old” or is it “old for new”?). • From our previous trip, 41 out of 96 Form 1 students who were screened were found to be in need of spectacles.
Here we see the Dora and Linda hard at work applying their skills to adjusting the spectacles for excited students queuing up for their new glasses.
Having delivered the spectacles to the Form 1 students, the team from Hong Kong rolled up their sleeves (oh!! too cold, so, they left their sleeves down), and set to work to screen the rest of the 1300 (?) students in the Middle School. They started with the Form 2 students this time. • Now where were the 3 Rotarians!!
Not lazing away somewhere but it WAS extremely difficult trying to get Maureen out of her bed as the room was freezing (no central heating or heater), and there was no hot water (the water pump broke down (again)). The temperature was about 4oC.
From the samples collected in October, we found a hyperendemic level of trachoma among the children in Loong Yan Primary School. This may be related to the poor hygiene standards and the scarcity of water in this limestone region. The high level of infection is a cause for concern as trachoma remains one of the leading causes of blindness, and trachoma can be spread easily from the sharing of towels. • So, there we were, waving our brightly colored towels to the kids to induce them to bring their old towels to change for new ones. Not that any of them need much persuading, as you can see the condition of their own towels.
We explained our findings on trachoma to all the teachers to ensure that they have adequate information for themselves and their students • All the students, the teachers and their family members have to take a one-off dose of medication (Azithromycin) for trachoma. So, here you see all 3 Rotarians hard at work with the teachers of Loong Yan Primary School and Dr Li. Even the head master was there to help sort out the medication – 4 capsules for adults, 2 for children, and of course, the medication had to come in packs of 6!
The school, being up in the mountains, was colder than in Du’an town area. The children were rather more scruffy than before, but were just as cute. • Lunch for those who were boarders consisted of white rice, soya bean soup and a sort of cake made from grounded corn (which Colman said was hard as rock – Ooo, Colman must have tried to sink his teeth into one of this!!) • Nevertheless, they looked happy, don’t they? So, who’s grumbling?
Well, for the adults, we sat down to a boiling hot meal (steam boat or hot pot) where we can warm our cold hands and feet and partake our meal all at the same time. • Over the fire, we talked about life in the mountains. The head master said they usually take a hot bath once a week due to the cold weather and due to inadequate water supply. Water supply in the school was mainly from the large storage tank which stored rain water. When we were there, there was not a drop of water in the tank! • After lunch, we visited the home of Wen Chai Huang, who was in P6. She lived there with her old granddad (and a neighbour). Her parents lived in town (other parts of China) with her older sister and a younger brother. She hardly ever see them, not even once a year.
The next day, we were hoping to go to a more remote primary school to screen for trachoma, but we were told that the roads were not good in this wet weather. We were sent to Chieng Chiao Primary School which was not very far from Du’an town, and this was not a boarding school. • Here we set to work collecting samples from the children. As you can see from the photo, they were all very cooperative. By the way, that’s Dr Li in the background behind Maureen. We assigned her to do the extremely difficult job of cutting wires (this was a very important job as it was performed by our esteemed President Ian in our last trip).
We finished early as there was no electricity supply and so, we were unable to use our slit lamp to examine the children’s eyes. • Having nothing better to do after lunch, we decided to pester Mr Tang, our driver, to take us to visit some families where we can take some water samples as well. • First of all, we were taken to the river source which is a spring. Maureen said the water sample need to be collected from the middle of the river… Colman absolutely refused to jump in and oblige her, so he tied the bottle to a string and …… you can see how he got the water for Maureen. Having got the water sample, we were surprised to find that the water was actually warm because it rises from underground…. Colman could have had a warm bath for nothing!!!
We then went on to bang on the backdoor of the house of a farmer who happened to have a water tank in his backyard. • The farmer was very obliging and let us into his house. Maureen said thank you very much and lost no time filling up her bottle with the water that the family used for cleaning and cooking. It was quite dark in the house and we really couldn’t see much (like in the cinema when the movie is playing) – the photos taken (with the flash of course) showed us very much more than what we could actually see in the dark, and this was about 4pm in the afternoon! • Electricity? Yes, they have electricity supply but it had been cut off since 6 months ago!! • Apparently, electricity was water-powered and with inadequate water supply/power, there was shortage of electricity supply and those not living in the town were the first to suffer.
We went on to the next house further up the road to visit this family • We went to their kitchen, to the backyard and climbed up a slope to have a look inside the water tank which collects rain water used for cleaning and cooking. • The water was brown and murky (and contained faecal contaminants). • Of course, we just couldn’t resist the urge to take a peek inside their ‘bathroom’. • We bought 4 bottles of “Wa Ha Ha” drinking water, poured away 3 and used the bottles for storing the water samples. • We were relieved to hear from Maureen that after analysis, the water from the remaining unopened bottle was absolutely clean.
The Science Block was still under construction but the computer rooms were ready and were being utilized by the students and teachers. There were 64 computers for the students and 2 controlling computers with servers for the teachers. • The students should be very happy as this number of computers is higher than in a lot of secondary schools in HK. • Between the two computer rooms, there was a multimedia classroom fully fitted-out for powerpoint presentations. • On the last morning, the Rotarians had a meeting with the officials of Du’an and the Middle School to explain what we had done and to discuss what might be done in the future (at the meeting, a senior representative from the Department of Health in Du’an was also present). We hoped to improve communications between Du’an and Kowloon North. The officials welcomed the initiatives to improve the ocular health of the students and hoped that these would continue.
We had two nights of hot pot and other dishes. The first night, we had ginseng soup…. It was deliciously hot…. • The second night, we had duck, some sort of cat fish, wild boar meat, mountain goat meat, and …… pig’s throat!!! • The 3rd day, before we leave, we had a Rotary-sponsored Lunch to thank the Du’an officials, and we ordered fried noodles, fried rice, fried dumplings, fried fish in sweet and sour sauce, fried greens, ….. Hmm…, not sure if they enjoyed this meal, but we certainly did!! • Then it was back to Hong Kong for a nice, warm bath. Linda has been counting the hours since we landed. • All in all, joking apart, this was a very valuable trip, embodying the Rotary spirit of service before self.
Special acknowledgements • Spectacle frames – anonymous donor (Rotarian (Kowloon North)) • Spectacle lenses – Hoya Lens Hong Kong Ltd, Japan • Trachoma medication – Rotary Club of Kowloon North • Trachoma diagnostic kits – PolyU • Towels – from funds donated by Alcon Hong Kong Ltd • Student/staff traveling expenses – Rotary Club of Kowloon North & PolyU • Dr Li Nian’s expenses – Sun Yat Sen Medical University
