A Day with the Electric Lamb Mission

Just in from Lisa Friesen RN
April-May Nias Mission

I wake up to grey skies and pouring rain. Today is my last day with the Electric Lamb Mission. I have spent the last two weeks on the Batavia, serving as a medical provider with Northwest Medical Teams. With weather the way it is, a part of me hopes that we will stay on the ship today and wrap things up, but the other part of me wants to go out and see as many sick people as I can, since this will be my last opportunity.

At our breakfast briefing, Rick informs us that the weather is supposed to clear and that we will be heading to Hilinawalomazino today. We take the speedboats to the shore of Lahusa, Nias, board our van and head south about 14 kilometers. When we get to Bawolahusa, a small village where the trail begins, we are greeted by hundreds of children, eager to repeat everything that we say, and hold out hands as we start our trek to our clinic destination.Hilinawalomazino is about a 4 “Gomo” km hike, (In “Gomo”, the area of Nias that we recently visited, kilometers can be anywhere between 1-2 regular kilometers). The trail is narrow, and the scenery is spectacular.

We are about a kilometer from our destination, in the village of Hilizalootano, when we are directed to a house surrounded by many villagers. Inside the house we find three people lying on the floor, desperately needing medical attention. One old man is quite ill, probably suffering from an acute abdomen, perhaps a ruptured gall bladder. Another 18 year old is so weak, that he cannot walk. He has not eaten for a month, and is burning up with fever. Another man has a large open wound to his ankle, an injury from the recent earthquake. Our team members disperse and rapidly treat these patients. More people are brought in for medical attention, but because they are not acutely ill, they are instructed to bring their loved ones to the clinic that we will be holding, just a kilometer further up the hill. We cannot stay here because the people of Hilinawalomazino are expecting us.

Hilinawalomazino Village and the huge traditional "boat" house at the top of the hill
Note the village people are living in temporary shelters in the town square and most
buildings are braced with timber poles to stop them collapsing.
All the houses and public buildings have been damaged.

When we arrive at our destination, we are met by hundreds of curious onlookers. Our clinic will be held in front of an old Nias "boat" house. As a team consisting of Rick, 2 doctors, 2 nurses and 4 translators, we put together our snacks that we have brought- 2 bags of cookies and a bag of M&Ms-this will be our lunch today.

People are registered in a somewhat orderly fashion, and by 4:30PM, we have managed to see 93 people. Many of our patients here suffer from Malaria. I test 25 people with similar symptoms-fever and chills and achy joints. Twenty-three of them test positive of Falciparem malaria. The treatment is simple-a three day treatment of Artesenate. The only problem is, Malaria will likely recur, but hopefully, we can help these people feel better for awhile.

We are not able to see all the people that we had hoped-the sun is going down and we have to be off the trail before it is dark. People are triaged, so that at least the really sick will be able to get help before we leave. Here we have to work with Indonesian and Nias translators, because most of the people here do not speak Indonesian-this prolongs the process. As we pack up, the earth shakes-another tremor, something these people experience almost every day.

As we head back, we are met by many children and adults, grinning from ear to ear, lugging rice to their homes. Another NGO has delivered rice, and we are not able to convince them that it was not us.

We are all exhausted and hungry, as we head back to the Batavia. It has been a great day - a wonderful way to conclude my Electric Lamb experience.