Happy New Year !
I spent 29 Dec 2006 – 7 Jan 2007 on vacation. The New Year’s Eve weekend (which as also the Islamic feast of Tabaski) was spend in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with our head doctor Susan and her husband, who was visiting. We had a great time walking around, visiting the museum/zoo and local craftsmen, drinking and talking. The first day of the year, I descended the Niger River in a motorized dugout canoe into the Park of W (the river forms a W at that point) where I stayed for three days. It was really a good, relaxing vacation. I went out every day with my guide, Moussa. Even though this is not the good season for animal spotting, we saw green monkeys, red monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, buffalos, a few different species of antelopes and several of the 350 different bird species in the park. I saw lion prints. And the last evening, we had five elephants just in front of us for about 20 minutes.
My vacation wasn’t really planned, but my directors told me to take it then, because I wouldn’t have time afterwards. Our program has changed here, and we have a lot of restructuring to do. In 2006, we treated around 60,000 children (only in our district) for moderate and severe malnutrition. Now that the malnutrition rate has fallen, we will treat only the severely undernourished, but will help the government to offer free healthcare to children under 5 years old. This is going to cause quite a few changes in the staffing.
I’m working long hours, but I’m still learning new things every day. I’m working with a great group of people, both local staff and expatriates. And I’m having fun. What else could one ask?
