movement on home & work fronts

Thursday I met with the gardener, Moussa & his brother. They came at 9am, and we chatted for an hour about what I wanted in my garden, we came up with an estimate, I paid my deposit – and within 10 minutes the weed clearing started, by noon, the topsoil & compost were delivered by donkey (!) and so the work continues – they thought they’d have most of it in today! And in fact, by the time I left the house at 9:30, a good part of the garden was planted. Its amazing how some things can be done so very quickly (one wonders if they had the team of people and the donkey cart waiting just outside the gate while we talked…) and yet trying to work in the hospital takes weeks!

The cost of my garden, which includes 2 months of labor plus topsoil & compost, and the plants - papaya, cherimoya, pomegranate trees, ground cover, bougainvillea, and a vegetable garden (tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, chili, green pepper, zucchini, basil, onion), and a compost pile for me – will be about $140.

Friday morning, we finally met with the director of pediatrics – yay! And we will propose a work plan to him tomorrow morning, with us at first rotating through the pediatrics (1/2 time), maternity & internal medicine (1/4) and peripheral centers (1/4). Plus, meetings etc with lab, pharmacy, etc. And my plan is that within that, we will start identifying new patients and hopefully start with a one day a week transitional clinic for new HIV patients (without a pediatrician) too. I am glad to finally have some movement. He warned us in strident terms that there are very many problems, at all levels from both lack of funds, and to a certain extent poor use of the funds that are available. And that children are generally excluded from HIV planning in this country. Not to mention health planning in general – despite the fact that 48% of the population is under the age of 18!

My first impressions of the hospital… well, the grounds are really nice, wide covered pathways, with several 3 story buildings, some flowers etc. on the grounds. The inside of the children’s ward had that particular African hospital smell that reminded me of the Mbarara hospital, and there were patients waiting everywhere to be seen. The patient rooms (which we looked at as we went by) have rows of 6 beds, and at least this morning seemed to only have 1 patient per bed. This will be really tough. But I’m excited to get started. More later!

By the way – in response to a comment – “ARVs” are anti-retrovirals, or HIV drugs for the non-physicians in the bunch (I try to use normal English but it doesn’t always work out! If I’m not making sense, let me know.)

Another attempt at photos from the trip… its been a bad few internet days Along the highway we passed a dozen of these “bush taxis” – impossibly overloaded, with 4 rows of seats, 4-5 people in each and often 2 in the front. And an incredible array of stuff piled on the roof. Like this bush taxi, its common to see one or more motos, some bikes, wheelbarrows, and assorted furniture piled precariously on the roof.

The second photo is another classic Burkina shot… I was trying to take a picture of the gas station with its gas in used pop bottles (on the left hand edge) but also caught this van – notice the upside down chickens (they're the feathery things at the front & in the middle)?! Apparently, hanging upside down is the preferred way to transport one’s chickens, as it stuns them and they hang quietly there for the duration of the voyage, in this case flanked by sacks of potatoes, bicycles and goodness knows what else.