She
was walking with her family, near her home, through the bush of the Jimi Valley. She was following closely behind her mom,
holding a knife used to collect food from the garden and to prepare their
lunch. The wet ground and the knife in
her hand made for a dangerous combination as she slipped and fell.
Her
dad, walking behind her, saw her fall, heard her yell and went to help her
up. As he got to her, she told him the knife
poked her and he saw the knife sticking out of her abdomen. Having already grieved the death of one child
in this remote place, he didn't want his oldest daughter to be sentenced to the
same destiny, so he pulled out the knife, picked her up and started
walking.
The
Jimi Valley remains a remote place in PNG that isn't easily accessed. Many areas have no accessible roads going in
or out of them, and so the people are forced to walk for hours to get to a road
where they can get a car to take them into a more populated area. The trails they walk on are well worn foot
paths through the bush, up and down the mountains that surround the Jimi Valley
forged by the Jimi River.
After
2 days of walking, they finally reached a closest health center to them in the
upper Jimi Valley where she got IV fluids and
antibiotics. The nurse told them they
needed to go to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital for further medical attention, so dad picked
her up again and kept walking. Once he
got closer to Banz, he was able to get a PMV to take them the rest of the way
to our hospital. I was finishing my
dishes, when I got a call, from the volunteer doctor I was on call with, about
a girl being stabbed in the ER.
I
quickly made my way to the ER and found a little girl about 6 yo, laying on a
bed. She cried as I got close to her to
examine her, fighting her dad who was trying to reassure her and hold her
still. Dad looked tired and obviously
concerned for his little girl, as he relayed to me what had happened. The bandage on the right side of her abdomen made
it easy to identify the location of the stabbing, and seeing the abdominal
tissue poking out made me wonder what else might have been in the road of the
knife. Her liver, kidney and colon all
potential targets. Her abdomen was
swollen and she cried more when I examined it, she was definitely going to need
surgery.
In
surgery, Jim was able to locate and repair all the holes the knife had left in
her small bowel and abdomen. With
antibiotics, IV fluids and time, it looked like she was going to make it. The next day when I went and visited her, I
found her dad there at her side, watching over her. He had gotten some rest and looked relieved
that the surgery was over and that his daughter was doing better.
I am thankful this dad loved his daughter enough to carry her for 3 days in order to get to Kudjip. It reminds me of our Father's love for each of us, who would also carry us for 3 days, and did carry us to the foot of the cross on Calvary, where we stand by, as His son laid down His life for us. How Great a Father's Love is.
