Africa Vision 14

Africa Vision 14

N’Djamena, December 3, 2007

Musings.

Guns and roses. All you need is just a little patience.
Do I have that?

It has been a while since I am here and as I wrote about before I came to head a Chadian NGO working in the field of public health.
Have we started? Mm well yes there have been several field visits but no money no funny. That is the crunch. Donors need to be convinced and as a new organization that is not easy however good your intentions are or your track record in previous jobs or your network. A new kid on the block is a new kid on the block.

As to assure I spend my time wisely in Chad it has to be said it did not take me long to find good alternatives (or rather supplementary work) until the main job begins.

First there is the challenge of teaching Public Health to sixth year medical students. Forty-nine thereof. I cannot wait. My first class will be within one month of my arrival here. The opportunity to discuss what I call creative public health, simply using common sense combined with experiences from other countries and what is realistically available budget and resource wise to implement health policies and programs is a boon. The discourse, the interactions with these future health leaders of Chad I sincerely hope I will be able to tickle their imagination as to become the best possible doctors for their own country. So many Chadians have to go without any medical service at all. Medicine is such a gift. A gift to serve. Not meant to serve as an opportunity to receive gifts. A healthy child, a smiling mother after a delivery gives a lot of satisfaction. And the opportunity to work with people is in my eyes a blessing. People who share their stories their plights.

Second there will be the work in the Hospital St Joseph in Bebedja. For the last days I had been awaiting paperwork. Now the waiting is for transportation. As there are cars plying south from other NGO’s and the diocese it is good to pool resources. Going back to full on clinical practice is exciting. Specially in a French speaking area and an area that has all the tropical disease you can think of. As a quick general referral there is always the MSF clinical guidelines and for the rest I will depend on the nurses and other doctors. Chad being Chad however cars may not move tomorrow, but the day after. Good old kalke (Bengali for tomorrow or never) If nothing materializes tomorrow I will rent a camel and depart early in the morning. Too much city is not good for this bush doctor.

Zen like thoughts meander through my mind.
Before great action comes great rest.
A broken tooth will cause delay in travel.
Practicing mental ludo is good for health.

That or these are the chits of paper in the Chinese fortune cookies of last night’s dinner. Across the street there is a cake and fruit shake bar. Until I have my own mixer I can hop over for the essential vitamins. In case I get lazy at night there are my neighbors who run a Senegalese restaurant. Easy food.

Delay, decay, delay.

No transport today or tomorrow. A camel or a donkey does start to feel like a good alternative.

Ciao

Ashis