Day 103, There is a recurrent theme in Mseleni of being tasked with jobs I have no reason to know how to do. I was prepared for this, part of the great experience was to be challenged with situations that were foreign to me. Three months in, the breadth of these experiences still manages to catch me unawares.
Inevitably it was during an on call that I had to perform a task I have never wanted to do nor do I ever wish to do again. The task was to conduct a forensic examination on a 4 year old girl for an alleged sexual assault. She was brought in by the police and her mum, she had been found with a 13 year old boy who had told her they were going to “play” together.
As a doctor I am not naive to the fact that these things happen and that as professionals we are relied upon to help build a case against a perpetrator. Back home this kind of data gathering would be performed by a forensic doctor, not only because they have expertise in the area but by working in that field they have come to terms with psychological aspect of it too.
Once a brief history is taken the evidence collecting begins. The police bring a brightly decorated kit with primary colours and teddy bears on the front, it is the “paediatric sexual abuse evidence collecting kit”. The fact they have a kit indicates just how often it is required. In it are step by step instructions on how to collect the various bits of evidence in a forensic friendly manner.
The evidence required included the child’s clothing, samples of hair, saliva and swabs from everywhere imaginable. It is hard to remember that I am actually doing this for the child’s benefit, it didn’t feel that way when I was expected to be comprehensive with my examination and evidence late at night. Unfortunately despite how tired she was it had to be done within 24 hours of the event for any chance of collecting useful evidence.
It was my first time performing this sort of examination and the experience has left me feeling very unsettled. I am concerned that I may have appeared very clinical in my manner. It is hard to be sure how to react when a situation like that is thrust on you, let alone when everything is being conducted through a translator.
As I stated earlier I don’t really feel it is a job for someone like me to do but here it is either us or nothing, and no hope of a prosecution if we don’t step up. In reality prosecutions are few and far between and the tragedy is we see sexual assaults and rapes fairly often in both adults and children. Before my year is up it will be as familiar to me as the simplest of medical procedures, but I cannot envision a time where I will be comfortable with it.
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