Eunice

The third year students were supposed to have swahili lessons after lunch today. Since the swahili teacher is attending a funeral on the other side of the country, the assumption is that the students will use the time as a study hall. It was a bit warm in the classroom, so Eunice decided to open the window next to her seat. As she pushed on the window, her hand went straight through the glass.

I was teaching my math lesson to the second years when i saw that there was a commotion outside. Since i am responsible for the 3rd years, i stopped my lesson to investigate. I saw Eunice clutching her wrist and I heard another student say she was badly cut. I ran to the office to find a first aid kit. Nope. No luck there. I settled for some gauze, and that was it. No alcohol for disinfecting, no proper bandages, and no painkillers. I went back to my desk and grabbed some toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

The students had brought Eunice over to a tree near the kitchen where there was shade and a bench. I guess that's the infirmary. At this point, i finally saw the cut. Wow! Very deep. I realized that i was the one calling the shots, so i sent most of the crowd back to class and then started having Eunice take deep breaths, while I had another student get her some water. She was bleeding pretty profusely, so i
told another student to apply direct pressure. Then, I called Peace Corps medical for some advice. They instructed me to tie the wound to control the bleeding.

I used another student's tie to deliver the pressure. I also sent another student to go to a shop in town for some tylenol. I'm not sure that i was right, but the only medicine at the school had aspirin, and i thought it was better not to give a bleeding student something that thins blood. At this point, most of the other staff had come over. The secretary had mustered up some cotton that the students were using to control bleeding. There was no doctor or nurse in town today, and she
clearly needed stitches, so the other teachers were trying to figure out a way to get her to the nearest health center, which is 40 km away. At this point, the bleeding seemed more manageable, so I was focusing more on having Eunice breathe deeply and drink water.

After several phone calls, the teachers managed to commandeer a matatu. We had to wait about 20 more minutes, which was enough time to get the painkillers, and clean and loosely bandage the wound. Then I instructed all the students to use my hand sanitizer to disinfect any spots that had come in contact with blood. Then we got on the matatu and began the trip. Just as we were about to set off, I instructed the
secretary to bring a 4th year named Daniel to work with the 2nd years so the lesson wouldn't be completely lost. As we traveled, my mind was racing. Now, in general, I'm not really squeamish, though I'm not too fond of blood. The exception is cuts on the wrist. Especially deep ones. Those tend to bring some things to the surface that I prefer to keep buried. I also thought about how grateful I was for the first aid class I took 7 years ago with the OPRF stage crew. Mostly, though, I tried to reassure Eunice and remind her to breathe deeply. I was a bit anxious about the fact that our "ambulance" was still making some stops on its normal rounds. Still,
we arrived in reasonable time and were able to move to the front of the queue as an emergency.

The doctor was very friendly as she put in the stitches. Another student named Ruciana and I stayed in the room to help Eunice feel comfortable while the doctor worked. The other two teachers who had travelled with us worked to find some way to scrounge some money for the hospital bill and the matatu costs.

I was just happy when it was all over and we could go home. She wound up with 14 stitches. Eunice was incredibly brave through the whole ordeal. I was grateful that everyone was so helpful every step of the way. I am very hopeful that i won't have to see any more blood for a while.