Good to be back

Alhorma cell phone communication, because otherwise I would have missed the SONEF Niamey-Gao bus to get back to Ansongo in time for baby weighings. I can’t believe the SONEF guy told me yesterday that the bus would leave from the Market when in fact it never leaves from the market but always from the 8th Quarter’s bus station. At least they phoned the driver and told him to wait for me on the side of the road. There are advantages to being one of few anasara around here…

I realized that I had been away from site for two weeks, working in both Bara and Gao. And a lot changed! When I got off the bus, I went straight to the hospital. A little girl (2 yrs old) is not getting any better even with the rehabilitation foods and we wonder if her mother is giving the food to other members of the family. It’s been since January and she isn’t gaining weight, where as other children, without serious infections, gain an average of 8g/kg/day during treatment.

My teammate’s cat disappeared; we think the neighbor murdered it.

Maman is drinking bita now and crawling.

The radio is back up and running, so I was able to finally do the show on optimal breast-feeding.

My homologue moved! This is the second time since I’ve lived here. They remodeled an old 2-story home that had been abandoned. She is a little uneasy though and I think would prefer a job in Gao. Her husband seems to spend more time there than in Ansongo anyway. At least they cooped up the chickens and made an enclosure for the sheep, irkoy beeri!