First off, I want to say hello to one of my readers – Cindy’s mom. I am happy to know that someone out there is following me. Cindy says hi from Kazaure.
Yes, I just returned from another 2 weeks in the field. I was accompanying my human resources officer from New York, and one of the reasons for the visit was to explain that there would be no net pay increase in 2011 – not one of the most fun things to do. In fact, we had to recalibrate our income tax calculations to be in accordance with the tax laws, and to make sure this did not eat into their net incomes, we were obliged to increase their gross salaries quite a bit. This increase already took out a big bite of our budget, and the MSF-France budget committee did not deem it necessary to add on again to their net. No one is very happy. But we did commit to doing a thorough study of the entire salary scale during this year to have a sound proposition for 2012.
While I was in the field, I was able to observe a fistula operation in our emergency obstetrics program in Jahun. A fistula is a tear in the walls between one or more membranes in the woman’s pelvic area, often caused by a long, difficult child birth. In this case, a 50-something-year-old woman’s urethra had disappeared because of such a child birth. That means that there was urine leakage in her vagina. I watched the surgeon actually create a new urethra, snipping the skin of her vagina around the opening into the bladder, then sewing it up into a tube. It was fascinating. Nigeria is one of the few countries which has a successful program for this type of problem, and the program in the Jahun hospital is the only one in the world in which MSF-France participates.
On a lighter note, in Kazaure I was able to see our ambulatory nutrition program soccer team beat the pants off the ministry of health team! It was a Sunday afternoon in a dust storm, but it was a lot of fun for everyone.
I also went to the Jigawa state capital, Dutse, with our administrator to visit the health commissioner and the tax office, as well as to buy some logistics material and some “white people” food for the expats in a big grocery store there. While there, I got my first taste of authentic Nigerian staples – pounded yams with a pumpkin seed (aguzi) and tomato sauce. It was delicious and VERY filling.
My flight back to Abuja was cancelled, so I made the trip back by car yesterday, one day later than planned. We left Jahun at 8:30 am and arrived at the office at 5:45 pm. It was what we call a “kiss” movement – one car is sent from each site, we meet in the middle (hence the cars “kiss”) and each car returns to its home site. In this way, each driver and car is home for the evening. In this case, the car coming from Abuja was delayed, so we waited for a little over an hour at the half-way point. There was a big outdoor market where we were waiting, so I was able to do some serious people-watching.
Most times we travel by air, so I really enjoyed being able to see the countryside this time. There are some places where huge rocks appear to have been spit out by the earth and have tumbled back onto each other. And there are other places where really huge bare rock formations have been pushed up through the surface by seismic eruptions.
Nigeria has the best road system I have seen in Africa. There are very good highways, and the building of them continues. There are an incredible number of car cadavers along these highways, though. Once a car is totalled in an accident, it stays where it is. Of course, all usable pieces are scrounged quickly, giving these cars the look of a skeleton. It makes a pretty good advertisement for safe driving, but the message seems to be lost on the Nigerian drivers.
I just received a Christmas package! As my recruitment into MSF was done through the satellite office in Lyon France, I am still associated with them. (In September before coming here, I did a presentation in Lyon to a meeting for hopeful recruits.) Each year, the volunteers in this office put together a box for each of their expatriates in the field, including sausage, coffee, tea, chestnut spread, French sauces, candy, Christmas decorations, and music on a CD. That really warms the heart. Of course, if we don’t share with people from other satellite offices, we risk our lives. To all of you in the Lyon office - thank you, thank you, thank you.
