The Outreach
The Outreach is a vital part of our fight against leprosy.
Much of Kindwitwi Leprosy Care Centre’s work takes place through Outreach Safaris: ‘outreach’ implies reaching out into the surrounding area to track down leprosy sufferers and in order to ‘reach out’, the Centre Staff have to make ‘safaris’ – safari in Swahili just means a journey, not a game-watching holiday!
About 4 Outreach Safaris are made each year,
some as far afield as the Rufiji River delta on the Indian coast.
The Staff involved are:
- the scout to go ahead to secure the help of the Village Headman;
- the medical staff to diagnose leprosy (not an easy thing to do);
- the medical staff to decide what treatment is best, i.e. what drugs, whether the sufferer can be treated at home or needs to come back to Kindwitwi for more specialised treatment;
- the medical staff to educate and advise local health care staff how best to recognise, manage and treat their patients in their villages;
- the shoemaker to make individual protective shoes and gloves and to measure up for prostheses, where required.
As you can imagine, it’s a complicated business and needs lots of planning, as well as a very competent driver and ‘fundi’ (mechanic) to keep the whole show on the road in difficult terrain.
Besides these basic medical functions, the Centre and the Outreach Staff organise:
- Traditional Healer Sessions
The days of the witch doctor are over! Their successors, the Traditional Healers, are now working alongside the Staff to persuade their people to come forward for treatment. For instance, in 2007 two of the newly-found leprosy cases were detected by Traditional Healers who directed them to the Outreach Team for treatment. This culture change has been achieved by sharing knowledge and best practice through education sessions organised by the Staff – and paid for with your donations!
- World Leprosy Day
Every January, to mark World Leprosy Day, the Staff organise a weekend of celebrations in a village in the Rufiji area. The Day involves local schools competing through drama, songs and poetry for the most effective message on a particular aspect of leprosy education. An important Guest of Honour is invited to distribute prizes and the celebration ends with an ‘ngoma’ – a party.
- Bagamoyo II
This is a plan that the Leprosy Care Centre has initiated to co-ordinate the leprosy control in the whole Rufiji region for the next five years. The participants are not only the Centre Staff, but also staff from Utete Hospital and, most importantly, from the Tanzanian Government health service.
