Look at Those Feet!

It seems we have a small crisis in Ouagadougou. Rakieta was helping to sweep water out of the house she is living at during one of the heavy rains. In the process she broke her foot on her old tried and true prosthetic. It was in tough shape-it has been that way pretty much since she got it. Between the clinic in Ouagadougou and us sending things over, we have been keeping her going.
The upside of this latest accident is that she was forced to practice harder and get the hang of her new leg faster. The downside is that her buddy at the clinic explained that getting the size foot she needs to replace the old one is very difficult and she would have to wait.
Hmm...perhaps this is how she ended up with a high heeled foot on her new prosthetic.
Translation-they don't have the supplies and evidently can't just order them. That makes sense if you have ever been to a 3rd world medical establishment or worked in one. It has taken about a year for the new leg to be ordered, completed and her walking in it.

Now that the "Just Dance"show is over, I have time to catch up on stuff. So out to the camper I went to go through the prosthetic donations. (Other people's discards) Well, after going through all the pieces and having Rakieta measure her foot, we found at least 3 feet in the pile that will work. I tried the feet in one of my shoes........perfect fit! So I think we have this problem solved. Viola! Had I known how many feet we had I would have looked a long time ago. Problem was I picked up the stuff during the period when Grandma and Grandpa K. were getting bad so I never looked. I just loaded the stuff in the camper and walked away.
It was such a neat surprise to find all this. Such a small effort on the business's part to donate but such a huge blessing to the clinic and Rakieta in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Rakieta's Leg

Me thinks the Prosthetic clinic is doing a very, very good job with Rakieta's new leg.
It would appear they have the skills to do a very good job. Their problem is that they lack the tools and patients with any money. Insurance is a concept that is foreign there. So it is all cash. Now What she requires would be about $25, 000 in America. There the cost has been about $1200. However, in Burkina Faso, it might as well be $25,000 because many families there survive on less than $1.00 per day.
The clinic is treating her wonderfully. They are picking her up and dropping her off free of charge, they are working with her on walking, they are fixing the old leg (yet again) and doing all kinds of other little things to just make this a great experience. The building is nothing more than a very hot pole barn, but I am very proud to report that the skill and service level is every bit as good if not better than a facility in a western nation. I am very surprised at how pleased we are.