May 23, 2009 - Unfortunately there is no opportunity to go to Maradi this weekend as some of us have to work! Naturally there was a power cut at about 2 pm (during my siesta) so I chose to go to the office earlier than usual, as we have a generator there which makes the ceiling fans work.
It is just absolutely intolerable without them!
Ivan the logistician has thankfully found a couple of "restaurants" in the village. We asked around and were directed to a little hut with a bench and a little stove. We ordered omelettes and bread and Ivan was very happy that we were not in the house, as there is nothing to eat there. I can understand why MSF hires cooks for its expats: when our cook is not there at the weekend we fight about what to eat and who does the washing up.
I have been making more visits to the hospital, unfortunately quite a few babies have died there, we are not sure what the cause is though. One thought is that the mothers give their babies traditional treatments in order to cure them, and when they get even more ill, they come to us, but unfortunately we can't save them all.
During one of my trips up to the hospital, a mother asked me to examine her infant. I explained (through an interpreter) that I wasn't a doctor. They asked why I was here, and the interpreter told them that I paid all the bills for the hospital. They seemed to think that it was me personally who pays the bills out of my own pocket - I did not contradict them and will put it down to lost in translation if anyone queries this!!
Some of the mothers are very good at cheating as not every baby is considered malnourished enough to enter the programme. So they deliberately deny them food so that they will be able to get in! As Francois the nurse says, they use their babies as a meal ticket. So not all good comes out of this charity work...
Myself and Francois the Cameroun nurse and Lieve the Belgian doctor have started doing daily yoga sessions in order to stay fit; despite the heat I am eating like a horse and don't take any exercise. We can use the car to go anywhere and it is too hot to walk the ten minutes to the Creni. Well, the locals don't seem to have a problem with it though. A lot of the men lounge on the side of the road, just beside the sewage system. They don't seem to have a problem with the smell.
This Wednesday I was woken up by the guard clapping his hands just outside my window (hand clapping is how they announce their presence here). It was one a.m. in the morning and the guards in the office had told them that there was a leak from the tap. We arrived in the office and it was flooded; the water had come from my bathroom (not my fault though) and flooded the office. Luckily my office wasn't too affected, again - I seem to have a lot of luck with my personal belongings at the moment, touch wood! Spent 40 minutes clearing up...
Have a good weekend everybody!
Ivan the logistician has thankfully found a couple of "restaurants" in the village. We asked around and were directed to a little hut with a bench and a little stove. We ordered omelettes and bread and Ivan was very happy that we were not in the house, as there is nothing to eat there. I can understand why MSF hires cooks for its expats: when our cook is not there at the weekend we fight about what to eat and who does the washing up.
I have been making more visits to the hospital, unfortunately quite a few babies have died there, we are not sure what the cause is though. One thought is that the mothers give their babies traditional treatments in order to cure them, and when they get even more ill, they come to us, but unfortunately we can't save them all.
During one of my trips up to the hospital, a mother asked me to examine her infant. I explained (through an interpreter) that I wasn't a doctor. They asked why I was here, and the interpreter told them that I paid all the bills for the hospital. They seemed to think that it was me personally who pays the bills out of my own pocket - I did not contradict them and will put it down to lost in translation if anyone queries this!!
Some of the mothers are very good at cheating as not every baby is considered malnourished enough to enter the programme. So they deliberately deny them food so that they will be able to get in! As Francois the nurse says, they use their babies as a meal ticket. So not all good comes out of this charity work...
Myself and Francois the Cameroun nurse and Lieve the Belgian doctor have started doing daily yoga sessions in order to stay fit; despite the heat I am eating like a horse and don't take any exercise. We can use the car to go anywhere and it is too hot to walk the ten minutes to the Creni. Well, the locals don't seem to have a problem with it though. A lot of the men lounge on the side of the road, just beside the sewage system. They don't seem to have a problem with the smell.
This Wednesday I was woken up by the guard clapping his hands just outside my window (hand clapping is how they announce their presence here). It was one a.m. in the morning and the guards in the office had told them that there was a leak from the tap. We arrived in the office and it was flooded; the water had come from my bathroom (not my fault though) and flooded the office. Luckily my office wasn't too affected, again - I seem to have a lot of luck with my personal belongings at the moment, touch wood! Spent 40 minutes clearing up...
Have a good weekend everybody!
Emma lavorava a Bruxelles nel reparto delle risorse umane in una delle tante aziende finanziarie. Un giorno ha fatto richiesta ai Medici senza frontiere, una delle organizzazioni più difficili in cui entrare.
Qualche mese dopo era sull'aereo per il Niger per una missione di un anno come responsabile delle risorse umane nel villaggio di Guidan Roumji.
Dopo tre anni nei MSF tornerà in Europa a un lavoro normale.
Il Blog di Emma e i suoi racconti usciranno ogni settimana su Gwen.
