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Journey to Afghanistan - Chapter 2, page 9

Night and Day - by Ken Magee

As we parked in a large and crowded courtyard many faces turned toward us. Indeed we were the strangers. I looked for a friendly face, a smile. There were none. Expressions seemed to show only bitterness and suffering. I thought, Hades much seem like this.

With some trepidation and no alternative I moved with my companions toward a large crowd of men waiting in an emergency area. Some squatted near a wall while others who were standing pressed towards the steps leading to the men's emergency entrance. A guard with his rifle would periodically pull aside a worn and dirty rug which covered the doorway, letting another man through. One man on the steps was shouting at the guard. Through the thick crowd I heard a loud and brief response, possibly accompanied by a poke from the rifle butt.

In another area the women clad in their ever present burqas crowded toward a doorway. Across the courtyard we saw parents with waiting children. Our interpreter called out to the guard and we were motioned toward the door and on through. Doctor Neil explained that the hospital director's office was nearby.

After explaining who we were, our interpreter inquired of a man at an inside desk if it would be possible to see the Hospital Administrator, Doctor Rahbi. We did not have long to wait before being ushered into his office. It was a small room, simply furnished, with his brown desk just in front of a plain curtain covering an outside window. Papers on his desk were more neatly arranged than mine at home. The three remaining sides of the small sitting area had low covered couches with worn upholstery surrounding a small central coffee table. While standing we introduced ourselves to Dr. Rahbi and others there and told them briefly of our mission: To help with health care in any way that we might and to learn from them. Dr. Rahbi motioned for us to be seated and spoke a few words to an aide. A small dish of paper covered candies and tiny cups of tea were brought. He expressed that they "had been surveyed by several groups, but from it, not much help had materialized, and that things in the countryside are only growing worse." Their hospital was seeing five to eight hundred people daily. They had very little equipment. In fact they related that there was "only one B.P cuff in the hospital and very few stethoscopes." We told him that we had a few extra and would bring them to him soon. Dr. Rahbi further informed us that they had been given a new ultrasound machine but didn't know about setting it up. It was not yet unpacked. Dr. Tom was experienced in doing and teaching ultrasound and we arranged that he would return on Saturday to help set up the machine and start teaching its use. He would also bring some blood pressure cuffs. Together we would return the following Tuesday morning to make rounds with the Drs. on the Internal Medicine service.

This concludes the second chapter of Ken's adventures in Afghanistan.

Chapter 3: Kamer Bandi Balq - Next Page>>