This morning we drove through the Kutupalong Camp so the new volunteers could have a look at the camp to see where the refugees are living. The camp was busy as a bee hive with people selling and buying, reinforcing embankments and paving roads.
Several children came in with impetigo, the sores were over faces, necks and scalps.
I asked a 12-year-old boy wearing a lungi whether he went to school. Apparently he skipped school to come here but he said he would go to school for a few hours a day and he liked school. when asked what he would like to be when he grew up. Without hesitation he said he would like to be a doctor and I asked why. He said so he could treat people. I hope he realized his dream.
My translator told me that when he worked with another physician who asked the same question of the children, no one came up with an answer.
Sadek and Khalek were two brothers six and seven years old, brought in by their father. Both had diarrhea but looked spunky, the younger one more so than the older who seemed under nourished. I pasted smiley stickers on their refugee name tags which they wore around their necks. This morning the chief coordinator brought a hundred and fifty bananas and distributed them to the workers and patients. These two did not have bananas in hand and as they were leaving, I handed them my bananas. They were delighted and so was their father.
Traffic was surprisingly light and we were home within an hour and a half!