Options for Epilepsy (photo by Jeff James)

Options for Epilepsy
The Menite people are a dark people, a wild people. In many areas, survival is granted only to the strong and ruthless, and those who are weak will not survive long. Epilepsy has no place among these people. If one is found having epilepsy, that family is socially ostracized in fear that the disease will spread to the rest of the community. And in a culture where community is everything, this is unthinkable. Unfortunately, epilepsy is a strong genetic trait among them. Their solution to it…get rid of it, at any cost. When one thinks about the social dynamics of it, ridding the tribe of those carrying the disease makes sense, but it is unfortunate just the same. Before development starting creeping into their world, the only solution when a child began to have seizures was to throw the child into the river or fire. I dare not think about how many children lost their lives, but even that could not strain epilepsy out of the Menite people. It is still widespread and growing. Now that Ethiopia is developing more and more, there are more options for parents with a child with epilepsy. Medicine is now available, but only within a 4-5 hour walk one way. Instead of killing their own children, many opt for sending them away from the community, maybe to a bigger city where they can find food by begging and a place to sleep under a small store’s overhang. And the other options is to leave them “on the doorsteps” of our clinic.

That is what happened today. A father brought his 10-year-old daughter to us, asking us to take her and care for her. Of course, we explained to the father we could not take her, but we could give her medicine to help control the seizures. He seemed okay with this, but as he was walking out the clinic doors, he sat her down on the bench just outside and ran down the road alone. He didn’t get far before one of the guards caught up with him and took him to the police.

I sat there and thought about how horrific the whole situation was. There was the girl, crying, abandoned by her father. And then there was the father, who maybe was trying to find any way out of being rejected by the community and still caring for his daughter. This was his desperate attempt of saving both their lives at once. The hard truth… that isn’t one of the options, at least not for the Menite. (photo by Jeff)