Week 2 in the periphery

This week was another informative week. I spent the first 3 days at CSPS Farakan, a clinic where women are actually offered prenatal HIV testing – and if they are positive, they are referred into a study that provides free treatment, including all medications necessary, and if wanted, formula to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. (Its such a good deal that the consent process is almost coercive – no woman could turn down free care for herself & her baby, plus free ARVs, plus maybe free formula!)

Testing of people over the age of 18 months costs 500-1000CFA though it is supposed to be offered free to pregnant women as part of the free prenatal care. PCR testing (the test you do on children under 18 months) costs 10,000CFA – not affordable to anyone here (remember than most people live on less than 500CFA / day). So in effect, they only diagnose HIV in kids over 18 months.

I watched a “sensibilisation” session – the assembled pregnant women sat on a bench and looked at their toes uncomfortably, while the midwife appeared to be haranguing them… it was in Jula, so all I could understand was the word “SIDA” which appeared in almost every sentence. I wondered what she was saying – although no one filled me in.

The moto riding is going pretty well – though still a bit frightening. I rode to work every day this week, a 20-minute drive through parts of town that were new to me. It was neat – although sometimes I was so interested in what was going on around me it was hard to focus on the road.

I stopped one afternoon to buy a pottery plant pot. Everyone tells me that people here are reluctant to get their photos taken and so I’ve really taken very few photos. But on a whim, I asked the pot seller if I could take a photo of her - much discussion ensued and the end result was that I could take a photo of her – if I also took a photo of another woman too and then brought back a copy of the photo. Then, there was a long discussion of where I should take these two photos… and then they announced that I should come back another day and take photos of them making the pottery. It was a funny experience. But the photo you see here is pretty typical of the roadside vendors, with the wares on the ground beside the road, and more stalls in the background – most of the shops are of the plywood stall-type.

Have a safe week.
Laura