Rosina

Impetigo is a word two-year-old Rosina doesn't understand.

But her sad eyes tell you that Rosina does understand how it feels to have itchy, encrusted sores ravage the beautiful brown skin on her tiny arms and legs.

Rosina's young mother saw the sores advancing daily, but felt powerless to help her. She cuddled her little girl in her arms, sorry that she must suffer so, but determined that she learn to accept her fate because no medical attention was available.

One day, Rosina's mother heard that the Canvasback ship was sailing to her island to offer free medical care.  She brought Rosina to the clinic, where a physician instructed her to wash her daughter's infected little body vigorously until all the scabs came off.  He then gave her antibiotics and rubbed her tender skin with topical ointment.  Before long, Rosina's sores were neatly healed and her dark eyes shone.

Skin infections are a common feature of everyday life for children in the remote island settlements of Micronesia.  Over half of the islanders have head lice and many have scabies as well.  The burrowing parasites are the basis for many of the bothersome--and at times serious--skin and eye diseases that plague the island people.

With dirty fingernails, children scratch their itchy welts, introducing a germ which causes impetigo.  The germs can then spread from the skin to the eyes, causing "pink eye."  In a gesture of kindness, the children pick each other's scabs, then blot the pus with the hems of their garments, spreading the infection even further.

The islanders have learned to accept their discomfort with stoic resolve.  But the sad and frustrating fact is that much of this suffering is unnecessary.

Proper diagnosis and treatment with inexpensive medications could eliminate many of the skin conditions that cause so much misery now.  A few cents worth of lindane lotion or shampoo applied to the skin and hair kills menacing parasites and brings quick relief.  More significantly, proper hygiene--when practiced--largely prevents their return.

Rosina's mother and others like her can learn to take the family's clothing and sleeping mats out into the sun to kill the scabies which thrive there.  They can also learn to bathe and shampoo more thoroughly and to refrain from oiling their bodies and hair, which traps harmful bacteria next to the skin.

Canvasback was formed for the very purpose of reaching the island people with the health care and education they so desperately need.  We are committed to ending pointless suffering so that the people of Micronesia may lead healthier, happier lives.

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