Fatebenefratelli vini Ansongo

The arrival of a team of Italian doctors (optometrists) has made my life more difficult (litterally everyone and their aging, blind mother has been at the hospital since Saturday) but oh so more delicious.

Yesterday I managed to make rounds to all of my ongoing projects: teaching HED class for two hours in the morning, dealing with garbage-collecting project coordinator who is somewhat untrustworthy and very difficult...sewing with the women, observing basketball practice, and greeting. Always greeting.

In between all these actvities I helped the Italians deal with the very same project coordinator who is difficult. He had them calling him "the president." Because he is a president of a 12 member association. Right. The Italians wanted a photo-op giving spaghetti to children in town and requested "the president" to have 30 kids ready. Of course 100 showed up and it was insane. O tried to help on crowd control, needless to say the Italians were frustrated. But still gave "the president" cash. For his rent and his association and for school children who can't afford the fees. Why do I get embarrassed when I witness stupid development? You think "the president" will use these Euros for what the Italians want him to use it for? No. He's barely managing our project funds and I have him on a very tight leash. This is a local who has lost a job for skimming off the top, bouffing we say.

I still got good Italian coffee and Christmas cookies. And an invite to dinner later. I had to do my radio show first (Songhoy/French now to reach a bigger audience) and though exhausted made it over to the guest housing at the Ag offices for an amazing Italian dinner. They brought over a chef from Rome with them!! We had risotto, bruschetta, prosciuto with cheeses, wine and bread. The publicist who spoke English was hilarious. We the volunteers and the consultant asked if we could keep the chef. They all laughed, but he was flattered Americans liked his food. Did we ever! The table was cleared for coffee and homemade Italian biscuits. Made by one of the doctor's grandmas. Really. My teammate even got a cigar. There are ways to do development and there are ways to do development.

This whole team is funded by an NGO (Fatebenefratelli or the "Do Gooders Brotherhood") and the Italian Airforce. In a word, efficient intervention (other than the lack of judgement or research on local contacts..."the president" would have been my LAST recommendation to help them with organization. But they didn't ask me...) Everything they needed was brought with them. In two teams, Gao and Ansongo, they completed 750 cataracts surgeries and 2000 eye exams in 2 weeks. Aliou's father and mother came, and though the old man's eyes were uncorrectable, his mother could once again see clearly out of both eyes after the surgery. Pretty amazing. Zubbu received antibiotics for floaties she had been seeing on the surface of her eyes. The Italians loved all the children and cried bambino! bambina! while playing with them. Maman got some nice clothes as did Bebe. People were crazy about getting the cadeaux, it just shows you how desparate people are. Precious few ever have opportunities for treatment like this.

The publicist's impression of Mali, a snapshot, was interesting. He thought there couldn't possbily be any malnutrition in Ansongo. "There is such a variety of produce in the market," he said, "and sheep and goats and cows for meat and milk. People must eat well." I had to be frank. I have seen too many children die of malnutrition in areas of perceivable abundance to know his observations were shallow. I told him maybe this seems like a typical African country where sometimes the pain, suffering and poverty are hidden. I've said before how I think malnutrition is a quiet killer. He agreed Mali was typical, but just couldn't understand how with the river and such a market there are problems with hunger. Another had him translate his ideas on how he thought the paved road to Ansongo and onto Niamey from Gao was a waste. Little do they know this road is an artery of development. An oppotunity for Ansongo, the bread basket of the Gao Region, to more cheeply send their produce to larger markets. Yes, only one or two trucks and a few cars pass a day. It's mostly the donkeys who use the road currently. But there's potential. Not a waste but an investment.

These doctors came to give physical sight. I hope they learned to see a little more clearly as well.

Smack.

I've hit my first child.

The kid actually presented me with the switch, or birzu, to hit other obnoxious kids who were crowding at the windows of the school where I started a course on Health Education for 6th grade girls. They wouldn't listen to my polite entreaties. They laughed at my threats. So when Moussa brought my new kid-whapping stick over, I used it first on him. He was being so bold as to answer questions from the window before the girls would (they are notoriously shy). Somehow he thought providing me with the stick meant he had amenesty. Nope. Smack!

The first morning of the HED course we did a survey. At least the girls understood how to treat water and what foods had Vitamins in them. But other than that, I can see this series of courses will be very educational for them. It is all part of program funded by Peace Corps Partnership: Saturday mornings the girls aged 10-15 years will learn everything from hand-washing to nutrition during pregnancy to negotiating safe-sex and Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons they will play basketball at the youth center. They are all incredibly motivated and excited to learn! Working with youth is so rewarding! Well, as long as I always have my birzu within reach...

Mmm...food coma...

Gobble-gobble! Team Gao acquired 4 turkeys for the occasion and enjoyed every-last sinewy morsel.

The Peace Corps demographic remains predictably nurdy: one of the new recruits has Settlers and we played. Another PCV's parents came and they generously provided some necessary ingredients (**below). The spread was incredible and most of it was from the Gao market:

• Baba ganoush and hommos**
• Turkey with homemade gravy
• Rice
• Beans
• Squash
• Greens (sauteed peanut leaves)
• Tukas (traditional songhoy dish)
• Garbanzo bean salad
• Salad (with two dressings)
• Cranberries**
• Escalloped potatoes
• Mashed potatoes (served from a bucket)
• Stuffing
• Apple tart
• Pecan pie**
• Chocolate cake**

Many calls to family and friends. The saddest was to another PCV at site eating a fruit cup alone; a fruit cup without enough cherries. Aw.

All in all it was an impressively traditional thanksgiving. But to me, Turkey isn't all about the cooking, though I love concocting deliciousness, it's about seeing family. And there was none of that on the menu. I miss them dearly. Tear.

A Tree Grows in Her Name

As I approached the hospital today, the director of the Kindergarten, with her trail of children in matching smocks pitter-pattering behind, stopped me and said she heard one of my patients, Rakietou Abdrunass, died. She was 4 months old. The photo at the left is when we released her from the hospital when she had gained enough weight to surpass the average kilos for her height.

She died of dehydration due to diarrhea. 2.1 million children a year die from complications due to illnesses which cause diarrhea.

She was seriously malnourished upon entry. We got her weight stabilized (I was helping with the feedings 8 times a day) and got to know the family. The sad thing was the mom just wouldn't listen. The dad was involved, and bought meds; but, then when we put her into "ambulatoire" mode, mom'd give the kid dirty water again and her diarrhoea would come back. The first post-release visit I did with the family, Raki was looking good. Smiling and even recognized me. It was a good day. We let them go home again with new packets of re-hab milk and scheduled another visit. 7 days later. At the rendez-vous, Raki was at a lower weight than when she first came into the program. Her face was contorted and she was crying constantly. She refused the breast and would barely take the bottled milk. She died that night. So I went home and I planted a moringa tree. Maybe it will flourished even in this incredibly unforgiving climate.

Encounters with a meter-long worm

I had a fantastic time out in the bush for four days with the Carter Center Eradicate Guinea Worm team. I saw the worm itself coming out of an old man's ankle and 7 other cases in various states of care. The missions focus on water-source treatment with the chemical Abate which I think is Toluene and Xylene and paralyzes the Cyclops parasite that eats the worm eggs and then gets ingested by the human host. So we put this stuff (2 cc's for 100 L) in everything from "puissards" (mini-wells which are really just holes that seasonally fill up with muddy water) to huge lakes. The puissards are difficult because as they consist of a series of holes they dig where the water table is close to the surface, currently some are dry and some have muddy water but we can only treat actual liquid, not dried mud. But the cyclops, the parasite that eats the worm eggs and then is what a human ingests, hibernates in the mud. And the chemical "Abate" only lasts for a month. So this means likely they draw from contaminated water. Oi.

We also supervise local health agents in awareness and follow up treatment of exit wounds and making sure suspected cases (lump is present but no worm yet) don't go into water. One guy up from Niger didn't really follow these rules and is responsible for over 60 cases this year (the worm's life cycle is 10 months to a year) in an area that wasn't previously endemic! Sadly some Malians say as long as there are still even 10 Belas left in the world, there the worm will be also. These are the Black African former slaves of Arabs, Sonrai themselves or the Tamachek Rouge. And though I discourage people calling "Hey Bela!", they do lead very pitiful lives; even when there is opportunity for better. Such as listening not just to the foreigners like me and Carter Center consultant, but also to their BROTHERS who say don't spread the worm, filter your water, use the pump. But no, they use the contaminated lake next door instead. GAH! Not in terms of just formal education, but the consultant believes these are some of the least enlightened people on the planet. They don't do what is productive for them EVEN WHEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY. It makes me sad.

Chairman Mao Comes to Gao

As promised, our dear friend Chairman Mao exhumed himself from his Beijing Mao-seleum and paid Gao a visit. Dusting himself off and clearing his throat of formaldehyde, he brings these words of wisdom to the Village People:

"It is up to us to organize the people...This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish of itself." So, Village People, what Mao is trying to say is that he likes clean houses and organization. Would it kill you to line up to get on the bus, once and awhile?

"To criticize the people's shortcomings is necessary." Thus spake Chairman Mao, Village People. I feel, therefore, it is my duty to inform you that if you drink dirty, guinea worm infested water, you will get the worm; if you don't feed your child, he will get sick and die; if you don't sleep under a net, you will get malaria...and for Mao's sake, stop eating without washing your hands with soap!!

"Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Feeling weak? I know this friendly AK-47 dealer near the boarder; sadly, more than ready to actualize this truth of The Chairman.

"We should rid our ranks of all impotent thinking." That means you, 'Mr. I can't water the trees because the well is too far away' and you too, 'It's too dry, hot, and windy to do anything-guy.' Consider yourself ridden.

"We are closely bound by common interests and common ideals." You said it Chairman Mao, we all want the Village Person who plays "SIDA est-la" and "Wolloso" and the "Allez-retour" song until late into the night to give it a rest.

"A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people." Village People! Do you feel the spirit?

"Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it." Not even stooping to put a full bucket of water on your head while the baby swaddled to your back is screaming and a second child is tugging at your pagne to go home? The Chairman is impressed with the Village People's women.

"We stand for self-reliance. We hope for foreign aid but cannot be dependent on it; we depend on our own efforts." Well said, Chairman. Somehow it doesn't surprise me from out of such a culture grew a country with amazing advancement and economic growth...can you the Village People do the same?

Chairman Mao thinks "We should be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and rashness, and serve the Village People heart and soul." And so do I.