My name is Kailin Nou’wauó
I come from Haia on the border of Chimbu and Gulf provinces.
For a long time, I suffered with pain in my eyes and with headaches. One day I was carrying a load of sago and bamboo and fell from the steps of our bush house. I was suffering so my brother took me to Wabo, while staying at Wabo the pain in my eyes and my suffering became worse.
One hot day as I worked in the garden I was overcome with pain from the brightness of the sun, my head ached badly, so I got to the river to wash. From that time onwards I could hardly leave the house and spent months with a blanket over my head. Every bit of sunlight was agony. In October 2023 a team from Kapuna Hospital came, that day I attended the clinic that Dr Esti held at Wabo Health Centre I told her how for more than a year I had stayed in the house with a blanket over my head, because of the pain from light to my eyes. Dr Esti, who is from the Netherlands understood my suffering and gave me ointments for my eyes and urged me to come to the hospital. Wabo is around 140km by river from Kapuna Hospital and I knew this would be a hard trip for me to take, the way I was. Finally, after some months my small brother Robin took me by canoe to Poroi and then found a motor to take us to the hospital. I have now been on TB treatment for 10 days and already the searing pain in my eyes and the painful headaches have reduced, for this I am grateful.
My sight is very blurred, I see only the movements of people but I am no longer hiding under a blanket for fear of the light.
Some of the small children from my area here at the hospital lead me along the paths. I am hoping that more of my eyesight will return and my headaches will stop completely.
I am thankful for the care at Kapuna from the doctors and nurses here who are kind to me.