Thank you - Part I

We are happy to announce that we already put the first donations to use! Yesterday we met Joseph, a 15 year old who looked more like 10 years, on the street. After somebody on a bicycle ran into him the day before, he had some problems with his wrist and was obviously in pain. He first asked for money (actually way too little) to go to the hospital, but since it was just around the corner, we decided to just take him there right away.

So last night, he was still examined by a doctor and already given a shot and some pain relievers and this morning we had an appointment for an x-ray.


Here we are still waiting to see a doctor after the x-ray was taken. Poor Joseph was still smiling, because he didn't know yet about the four shots he would get into his finger as soon as we would meet the doctor.

One of the doctors taking care of "us" examining the x-ray at the window.


Here Joseph is just about to get the shots in order to make his hand numb so he wouldn't feel the pain of setting his finger back into shape. It was quite a painful procedure and he was very brave (definitely braver than Natalie and I!).

This is how his hand looked afterwards! Now he has to take some drugs against the inflammation and come back in a week for a check-up. Since we won't be here anymore, the Canadian volunteer doctor you could see in the picture above will take care of him and make sure that he can finish his treatment.

Everybody in the hospital was really helpful and we were surprised that all of the doctors spoke French and English. The whole treatment (including the registration with the hospital, x-ray, shots, pain relievers, etc.) was less than 12 EUR - not a big deal for all of us, but loads of money here...

Thanks again!