Sur La Route

I spend a lot of time on the road. My job takes me around a circuit of approximately 240 kilometers In the villages of Soly and Goula are found two health centers in the area surrounding our town. These are existing state-run health posts but, we additionally provide nutrition and basic pediatric care for children under 5 years and prenatal care in some of the centers. I serve as a supervisor for the staff in these two centers.

So imagine with me a landcruiser (Toyota of course) leaving town by the dusty main route. I am prepped for the day with water, the supplies that the CSI´s (health centers) have ordered, and an emergancy box, for whatever might come up along the way. To my left is my driver who knows the route like the back of his hand. He is well known all along the route which is a great advantage to our safe passage. In the back we may have several parents and children who have been discharged from the services we provide within the local hospital (nutrition, pedicatrics and maternity) and are returning to their homes. There may also be other teammates who work in health promotion or water and sanitation who may also be going to the CSI.

Each morning the fleet of vehicles and teams depart from the base here in Dakoro and fan out to our various centers. A large portion of the team also works here in town at the base, or the hospital, or the intensive care for malnurished children, or the supply chain and logistics. It´s an impressive operation.

Each CSI serves many surrounding tiny villages, so parents come from far by foot, by donkey or by camel. Just like most people in the world, parents bring their children for health care when they notice a problem. Here is is most commonly malaria, intestinal and lung infections, anemia. These illness are common, but much more deadly and serious in kids that have little nutritional reserve. So we treat them, of course for the illness, but enroll them in the weekly or bi-weekly nutritional and educational program. If a child is urgently sick, the vehicle we came in becomes an „ambulance“ to take them back to the medical services we have in Dakoro and I become the nurse who accompanies the transfer.

I unfortunately cannot communicate directly with most of the clients because I only (half) speak French and not their local languages. However, all our local staff in the centers speak both, so its no problem.

I make my rounds and attend to details and watch over how the care is given, what are the training needs of the staff, etc. There is much to learn and absorb. I hope I can get up to speed quickly enough to also contribute to the good of this project in 6 months. I really could´t ask for more patient teammates.