The Worminator
It’s Combantrin o’clock, and all is well. Except for the guy near us today who was shot and killed. I asked how long it would take for the police to respond. Our host, Mark, laughed. “They won’t,” he said. Man is killed. Police won’t come. End of story. Put the kettle on. Strange days.
Hiked (waded) out through the swampy passageways across slippery rubble and rocks through to a little shelter in the middle of humidity. A concrete slab the size of a bedroom, with a roof. A lot of hanging around.
Kids turned up, and we handed out Combantrin. The first hand out of many over the next days and weeks.
Roundworms are common in Baseco. Nasty little buggers like strands of spaghetti that fill up kid’s intestines and cause malnutrition.
Combantrin is made out of chocolate and the kids love it. Kills em dead in their tracks.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to our little “Combantrin fund”, chucking in money to allow us to buy hundreds of boxes of the stuff. We used a few today. More to come. So exciting to see something so simple be so appreciated by mums and kids. It makes a real and immediate difference. I know sometimes you put money in to something and never get to see the end result. Today, that was our privilege.
Haha!! Brilliant post!! What a humorous take on worming kids!
As only you would know. What a whacky world this is. Thanks for your advice Kristy about the pyrantel green-box etc. Back home you sort of go “yeah, yeah, whatever…”: but when you see the kids queue up with their mouths open, and their mothers shoving them forward, you realise this isn’t just a hygenic inconvenience but a life saver. another session today and mark said they’ll get to about 1000 kids this week. THe stocks will last some months as the kids are so little they don’t need that much.
Love it “the Worminator”!!!!
“Verms… brebare to DDDIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE….”
P&M….just wondering if you gave yourselves a dose Happy days! I will think of you as I head off to Melbourne, maybe I should take some of that stuff to the office? :-0
No too much problem with roundworm in Melbourne CBD, but you could give it a shot…