We recently received this report from Yayasan Harapan Sumba in regard to a young boy Darius Konda who we are supporting for a Medical Operation by supplying transportation & accommodation . Refer our newsletter dated 12th March 2014 . Before reading this report in full it is important to understand that people in Sumba face many hardships . Many parents do not have the knowledge or skills to care for their children . Another problem is parents are malnourished as they don’t eat the right food themselves ,and because there is so much malaria that they ,especially the women are anaemic which really saps their strength . Darius lives in a very remote area where there are no role models to show them the importance of  cleanliness .

 YHS REPORT : Since his parents originally agreed for him to go for the operation, our Disability field staff, Debbie, has been five times to his parents’ house, in a very remote and rather dangerous part of the island, to arrange for him to come to the local hospital to get the necessary recommendation letters for the hospital in Bali.   The first time he already had scabies, and she gave the family ointment and told them how to take care of him to get rid of the mites causing the scabies.  This takes cleaning the whole (bamboo and thatch) house thoroughly, washing all the clothing and bedding in hot water and soap, and keeping the child himself really clean.   Now the mother has left, we think to work in either Bali or Sumbawa though the family is vague, and an aunt is left in charge.

Each time Debbie visited she treated him, but the family is always very apathetic and uninterested.  Each time she also asked them to take him to the local hospital here to obtain the necessary letters of recommendation for the Bali hospital.  Each time they agreed to take him “but not today”, and eventually, 10 days ago, they finally did so, and Debbie met them at the hospital.  The attached photos will show you that he was still not at all fit to go anywhere.  The poor little thing is covered in scabies, and the parents are simply not going to do anything about it.

 Since even if we were able to take him from his family and get rid of the scabies and if he were operated on, he would return to the same family conditions and would receive almost no care.  We have therefore concluded that we will not be able to help him until we can arrange a plan to overcome these issues . This is now being discussed .