06 Sep August 2022 – Burundi Africa – continuation of teaching First aid to unskilled orphans in Sister Connection.
“You’re so ignorant!” How often have we heard someone in America use that phrase? It seems that many use it as some ultimate put down; a pronouncement of some superior ability and/or intelligence from the person making the claim. Ignorance has nothing to do with ability or intelligence. It simply speaks of a lack of knowledge in a given subject. To the end, I am truly ignorant about many, many subjects in this vast world of ours.
So when I now speak of my young adult Burundian friends supported by Sister Connection www.sisterconnection.org as being ignorant, please know that I am not speaking ill-will of either their abilities nor their intelligence. Indeed, their abilities and intelligence became strongly evident over the course of our training. I speak only of the fact that nearly all had little or no basic knowledge of anything First aid. In fact most didn’t even have any reference point to basic anatomy of how our bodies works. Blood circulates? The heart does what? We can feel it as a pulse? An airway leads to the lungs? Another passage leads to our stomach? But we have a shared space in the throat? How does something get stuck in the airway and cause us to choke? How does the brain tell the body what to do? Are seizures a sign of demon-possession?
These are just some of the questions and/or uncertainties for the group of 10 young adults (ages 18-27) that I had the privilege of working with in Burundi Africa. These brave folks joined me for 4 days of basic, yet intensive teaching where they also had opportunity to practice skills. The skills that they demonstrated included: proper hand washing; basic wound care, cleaning a wound; understanding signs of infection and how to initially treat; major wound care including wound packing, tourniquet use; Splinting; generally understanding of seizures, stroke, heat-related injuries, cold-related injuries, and more…
We also got to explore the truth that all things First aid come from God. He offered us Rescue breaths and has taught us to do the same (Genesis 2:7). He heals (Matthew 4:24, and teaching us the value of life and importance of first aid in the telling of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37).
I hope to share more in future posts, But for now – for those who believe and understand the power and value of prayer – please pray for “next steps” for this fledgeling program. Pray for wisdom for me as I edit the student booklet and consider a second level of teaching going forward. Also, we have selected 4 folks (two men and two women) who where taught some beginning skills in how to teach this material going forward.
