Farewell to the cataract team

Dr Faira Keita and his team left this morning, after a successful week here when they managed to operate on no less than 128 patients- they had some left-over equipment and medicine from their last destination which they chose to use here when they had finished the 100 operations that had been planned. The little boy never came back unfortunately so cannot report on this. Maybe his mother thought it was not worth it since Faira could not guarantee success? But otherwise there was 100% success rate and the fun moment is when the bandages come off: the patient has to tell how many fingers they see.

The optical testing signs here are different from ours, adapted to the mainly illiterate population: it is a question of telling the direction only.

And finally, another couple of Bambara proverbs to finish off from this morning's lesson:
 Ka sigi Debenka ka bin korofo : 'To sit on the grass mat and complain about the grass'
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? or something like that. perhaps there is a better one?
I te se ka ta sula ka furu la ka fo a kukala ne te maga ila: 'You can't go to the monkey's wedding feast without being touched by its tail'.. monkeys are not highly regarded here so this I take to mean that if you get mixed up in something questionable you will not be able to remain clean? Is there a corresponding proverb in English?