Emmanuel

Ten year old Emmanuel has got to be the luckiest boy in West Africa. Last Thursday he swallowed the little thing that makes a whizzing noise from the end of one of those things you blow to make an irritating noise at parties, and it went deep into one of his lungs. When he breathed out, he made a whizzing sound. Without a procedure to remove the thing, it would fester and cause infection, and he would most probably die after a long sickness. His parents carried him around Monrovia's hospitals for 3 days, but there was no-one able to remove the device. And then a miracle happened - they brought him to the Africa Mercy's dockside clinic late on Sunday afternoon, when it should have been closed - but my friend Rosie, an Admissions Nurse, just happened to be finishing off her work late for the day. She listened to Emmanuel's chest, and then went and found Paediatric Surgeon Dr Hose from Gran Canaria, who was the only guy in Liberia with the knowledge and tools to remove the whizzer. Emmanuel was admitted on Sunday night and a one-hour procedure removed the thing on Monday. Today he is going home, slightly bruised but none the worst for the accident. Praise God! Olly