The Mighty Guava Tree

The guava is one of the greatest health hazards to children in PNG. Well, after gastroenteritis, pneumonia, malaria and tuberculosis, anyway. The guava contains fruit that the kids love. The trees are high enough to make falls from them dangerous, and the limbs tend to be a bit thin. The low, easy-to-reach fruit gets picked first. Then they have to go higher and higher, and out on thinner and thinner limbs. Eventually one will break. Injuries are usually just a fractured forearm, which in kids usually heal very well.

However, this poor girl had much worse luck. She took a nasty whack on the head, and managed to break both bones in her forearm, and the humerus (upper arm) as well. She'll be OK, but will have a few days of pain, and it will be a few weeks until she has full use of her arm, but she will be alright eventually.