Breaking the Chains: Kaipasake

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:22:19 GMT

Kaipasake, a middle-aged man, was found chained to a tree by fieldworkers from a CBM-supported project in Papua New Guinea.

He was emaciated, surrounded by food scraps and his own bodily waste. A closer examination revealed that Kaipasake was totally deaf, blind in both eyes by cataracts, and severely distressed – so much so that he tried to scratch and bite anyone who touched him. Along with evidence of neglect, there were signs of abuse as well.

The fieldworkers were told that he was chained up partly for his own protection – to stop him from waking into cooking fires and injuring himself.
With considerable difficulty, the team unchained him and flew him to a CBM-supported hospital -- there are few roads in the Papua New Guinea highlands. At the hospital, a full diagnosis emerged: episodic mental illness, arising from years of blindness, deafness, malnutrition and abuse.

The medical team determined that Kaipasake’s deafness was permanent, but the cataracts were operable. At first, however, the team had to help nourish and strengthen Kaipasake so he would be strong enough to undergo the cataract surgery. Kaipasake’s surgery required general anesthesia because he was still too restless to have the procedure done under local anesthesia.

Once Kaipasake was strong enough for the surgery, his cataracts were removed and replaced with intra-ocular lenses, resulting in the restoration of near perfect eyesight for the first time in years for Kaipasake!

After his sight was restored, the medical team continued to work with Kaipasake. Eventually, the restored sight, consistent care, improved nutrition and the security of the hospital brought a remarkable change to Kaipasake. He became stronger physically and emotionally.

A few weeks after Kaipasake’s noticeable improvements, he went back to his clan area, although he refused to go to his home village because of the bad memories. Instead, he was welcomed by his own clan in another village.

Kaipasake is no longer shunned, forgotten or abused. He has become a productive member of his village and now is a vanilla farmer.
With CBM’s help, Kaipasake has broken out of his chains of despair, neglect, abuse and hopelessness.

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Breaking the Chains: Kaipasake