Thursday, May 11, 2006

The photos below show the kind of view that confronted me as we went up the river to the village (all transport is by boat here). The picture on the right is of a gathering in the house of a baby that died yesterday, only one day old. It reminds me that despite the shiny new houses, the problems associated with poverty are still very apparent. The infant and child death rate here is very high - much higher than elsewhere in Indonesia. In Saengga, a village of only 100 hundred families or so, two children have died in the last week. I saw the father of one of them sitting outside his brand new house, beside the grave of his 1.5 year old - they had buried her just outside. He had put cans of coke and fanta on the grave for her to drink. It was so sad. It appears that there is an almost total failure of the health system here - correct diagnosis and treatment is a rarity, and the referral system (to more expert help and facilities) is ad hoc at best.

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