Some sad news today. One of our female Barefoot Dr students, Seng Thawng, has to return home today. Seng Thawng is the one in the picture above with the white shirt and pink/white dress next to the obvious American Dr. Susan McDowell in the middle of the photo. Seng Thawng's father is very ill. The “hospital” in her area sent him home to die saying there is nothing they can do for him. There is no information on what exactly is going on except that he has abdominal swelling and maybe hepatitis. We just dropped her off at the airport. She will fly to Yangon and then probably have to wait a day or two to get a flight farther north to Putao. Once she gets there, it is a three-day walk to her parents' village. She was very upset and worried about leaving the Barefoot Drs program early. I assured her that it is okay. We will make up what she missed next year. For now it is important she return home to be with her family. She is the only child making the stress and responsibility on her that much greater.
Please be praying for her and her family.
On a brighter note, Dr. Susan McDowell continued her teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday covering orthopedic injuries, wound care, and basic neurology. Today she has a day off to recover and hopefully do something fun. Although, it seems to be the general consensus of all the teaching doctors that none of the tourist stuff can compare to the experience of teaching and learning from the Barefoot Dr students. I did not realize until this week how important it is to have some of our female physicians teaching. The handful of female student really appreciate and need that female doctor rolle model. I happened to notice how much our female students really gravitated to Dr. McDowell and it got me thinking. In Burma and Thailand women are respected as people but not so much as leaders. There are a few female leaders but the majority of the society is male dominated and most women are more subservient. It is a bit like old-fashioned America where the men did business and the women took care of the house. So for all these Barefoot Dr students it is great to have some positive examples of women leaders but especially important for the women Barefoot Drs.
Susan surprised the students gave her a special thank you gift.
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