Whirlwind hospital visit

How many times have I heard stories of people waiting for hours in the emergency room just to see a doctor?? A lot!!!!

A week ago this past Thursday early morning, before Michelle and I left to go to Ségou for a 2 day training I was to help deliver, I felt my tummy hurt a lot. Suddenly at around midnight I woke up and went to the bathroom and was sick. At this point I thought it was caused by something I had had for lunch or dinner. After this, I felt better and relieved from this big weight in my stomach which had been preventing me from sleeping. Then at 6 am the driver came to drive us three hours north of Bamako to Ségou. For a good six hours I felt relief but then later in the day, the pain came back slowly and began haunting me again. I felt like nothing I was ingesting was going all the way down. It was just staying in the middle. All day Michelle asked me how I was feeling and every time I told her that I was fine but because she knows that I don’t get sick really often she took it really seriously . Soon after lunch I felt really bad again and I told Michelle that we might have to leave before the end of the training. Soon after I told her that I felt really bad and it got worse, so we made the decision to leave and go directly to the hospital. At this point Michelle was really scared because I never complain when I’m sick and I was the one who said that I wanted to go to the hospital. We agreed the driver would drop me off at the hospital and she would drop our stuff off at the hotel, while I waited at the hospital. When I got there everything went really fast. I crossed a room with 3 tiny windows and then entered a court yard where I could see signs for the pharmacy, lab, doctor, emergency etc. I followed the sign for the emergency ward. When I got to emergency there were 2 people sitting on a bench, I asked them where I could see a doctor. One of them showed me a door in the corner of the hallway that was half open. I pushed the door half way open thinking it was the waiting room. Inside was a doctor sitting with his feet on the desk waiting for patient. He asked me what I was doing here, so I explained my symptoms and then he stopped me and told me to go and get a receipt at the entrance. I went back to the room with the 3 tiny windows. I walk to the only one open and asked for a receipt to see a doctor. The men inside asked me for 800 francs ($2), which I paid and, in return, he gave me a tiny pink piece of paper. I went back to see the doctor. Nobody was waiting in front of the door, so I knocked and entered. There was another doctor there waiting with the one I had already seen. I present the receipt and then he asked me to lie down on the examination table. He examined me and then said by precaution he would like me to go get tested for malaria. In the mean time Michelle came back from the hotel. She asked me what was happening. I told her he wanted me to be tested for Malaria. In Mali, Malaria is more common than HIV/AIDS and almost everybody has a bit of it in their blood stream. If you are not treated on time it can be deadly. Michelle and I went to the lab, where the men asked for a receipt. I showed him the one I got and tells me you need to get another one, so Michelle and I went to the same place I went to get the first receipt and this time the person asked for 1000 francs. When we returned to the lab, the man took a drop of blood from one of my fingers and told me to wait 20 mins for the results. We waited outside talking to some people. I was looking around and I could see a stretcher with a broken wheel on the side. After half an hour the results came back negative. Michelle and I went back to the doctor. I entered his office and saw him with two other guys talking, I gave him the results, he looked at them and wrote me a prescription for some meds. After just over an hour I was in and out of the hospital and tested for malaria!!!!!

Pre-holiday in the hospital

Before heading off for our holiday in Dogon country, we were in Segou for a training Thomas was co-facilitating for the members of the shea butter cooperatives of the Segou and Kemeni regions. Seeing as part of my mandate with CECI includes working with the other Uniterra Mali partners to see where they are in terms of their knowledge/understanding of gender equality, I decided to accompany Thomas on this mission with the purpose of observing and seeing how the women (most of whom don’t speak a word of French and are barely literate in Bambara) learn. I also wanted to see how the two male facilitators interact with the women and incorporate/take their needs into account throughout the days of training.

So getting back to the topic of HOLIDAYS…..24 hours before we were supposed to leave Segou for our holiday, I seriously didn’t think we’d be heading anywhere except for back to Bamako with the project driver. If you’ve read Thomas’ posting, you know we took a little trip to the hospital in Segou. Thomas is NEVER sick and even when he IS sick, he says he isn’t. So when he told me he absolutely needed to go to the hospital, I internally freaked out (as to not freak him out even more!) A doctor quickly saw him and immediately tested him for malaria. Although we were never told that vomiting is a symptom of malaria, we’ve learned here in Mali that it can be a sign. Three of the other CECI cooperants have it and vomiting and nausea were their first symptoms.
The hospital we went to is the main one in Segou. Having visited hospitals in Rwanda and in Malawi, I thought we’d be in Emerg forever! Surprisingly (and thankfully!) we were in and out in just over an hour. We were told that mornings are always insanely busy with people traveling all night from surrounding villages to get there. Afternoons and evenings are apparently much quieter. Like the hospitals I’ve been to in East Africa, this one was set up like a village. As you walk in, there are little street signs which lead to Radiology, Emergency, Paediatrics, the Lab, the Pharmacy, the Morgue, etc. I thought there would be women outside cooking for their sick family members as this tends to be the norm but nobody was in sight.

In the end, we travelled to Mopti on Saturday- a whole other adventure (which was quite costly!) which we’ll soon tell you about. Thomas spent 2 days not feeling great and spent his birthday in bed. Poor guy! We did end up hiking for 3 days and will tell you more and show you pictures soon enough....

Intergenerational partying in Bamako!

As many of you know, Thomas and I love to host parties; and seeing as we’re missing the festivities taking place at home, we had a last minute idea and decided to get festive here! We didn’t go as far as purchasing red and green napkins which cost an arm and a leg at the Lebanese-owned supermarkets, but we did have yummy food (though not enough) and drinks.

A wife of a friend of ours looked after then food (we’d bought some meat to make brochettes) which made it so much easier for Thomas and I to socialize with guests. Many more people turned up than we had thought (about 35) and although the food was apparently delicious, Thomas and I didn’t get to try any of it because there wasn’t enough. Almost everyone brought a bottle of wine (which can be found at the supermarket for around $12) and we had beer so there was definitely more than enough to drink (as there always is at our parties!)…there just weren’t enough glasses. In the middle of the party, Thomas had to borrow someone’s moto to go and buy more glasses. Somehow, a dozen metal classroom-type chairs also ended up in our yard. I learned the next morning that one of our guests had given our guard 1000 francs to go and rent chairs.

All in all, the party was a success and people hung around until 3am. The neighbours must think we’re alcoholics as they saw all the bottles bringing brought in. Alou, however, is the happiest of all because when we asked him to get rid of all the wine bottles, he told us he could get 100 francs for each bottle! Joyeux Noel!

Homesick for Christmas

If it weren’t for people’s facebook statuses where Christmas parties and shopping are frequently mentioned, I really wouldn’t think it was Christmas at all. In Mali, there are no decorated store windows, no lights, the weather is hot, and the voices coming from the many mosques just don’t scream Christmas.

In the past when I’ve been away from family in Canada over the Christmas season, I never really felt as homesick for celebrating as I do know. I miss Christianity- and it never would have occurred to me that I would. In Canada, we regularly go to Church but when away, I have definitely gone a year at a time without attending. There have always been symbols of Christianity around me (Churches, Cathedrals, Nativity scenes, processions, music, crosses) and I now recognize that these symbols brought me comfort.

Thomas and I have not actively looked for a church in Bamako and probably won’t. Mali is only 4% Christian and with all the walking we’ve done around the city, we’ve only seen a few Catholic Churches and a building belonging to the Church of Latter Day Saints. At home in Bamako, I’ve been blasting carols and seeing as the walls are paper-thin, I’m sure the entire street can hear me singing along.
Last weekend, Thomas and I went to see The Messiah performed by the Bamako Community Choir and Orchestra- largely made up of Americans and Dutch. I had been looking forward to this concert the entire week and to say it was a bit of a disappointment is an understatement. But hey! What did we expect!?! A performance comparable to Tafelmusiek’s? No way! The Messiah is just too hard to do well. A good effort but Thomas and I cringed through the entire three hours and rushed home to play the recording we brought with us.

Watching the flocks go by...

As soon as we arrived in Bamako in October, we noticed that many people kept sheep. It wasn’t at all unusual to see a herd of sheep being hustled through the downtown traffic. It also wasn’t unusual to see someone “walking a sheep” just like in Toronto we see people walking their dog. As we entered the month of November, sheep were everywhere and last week, I can safely say that Bamako had been taken over by flocks of them….so much so that their “baaaaah”ing became a sort of lullaby for us as we fell asleep at night and was our wakeup call in the morning.

Thomas and I went away this past weekend and when we got back to Bamako, all the sheep were gone!!

This past Saturday was la Fête de Tabaski. In West Africa, this is the name given to Aïd-el-Kébir (which actually means “la grande fête”) and it’s held approximately two months after Ramadan. Tabaski is celebrated to remember Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son for God. According to the Bible (I think Genesis, chapter 22) God stopped Abraham and told him to sacrifice a sheep instead. Throughout the entire month of November, Bamako was getting ready for “la grande fête”. Women were buying new bazins (beautiful silk-like fabrics) to make new dresses and robes for their husbands and children and the streets were full of girls and women getting their hair freshly braided for the big event.
Though Tabaski is not celebrated by the 4% population of Christians in Mali, Abraham’s sacrifice is of course remembered.

Last Wednesday, while I was at thee office, a man came in from off the street selling knives. I deeply regret not having taken a picture. His entire bag was full of knives of every size- from the size you and I would use to peel an apple or chop vegetables to daggers to massive machetes. The two men in my office who are “chef de famille” (Heads of their family) looked through all of them very carefully trying to find the perfect one to use to “égorge” their sheep.

Thomas and I were invited by my boss at the last minute to celebrate Tabaski with her family- but fortunately or unfortunately (I’ve heard mixed reviews from other volunteers who witnessed celebrations) we had made plans with Deb and her daughter Bintou to go to Teriyabougou, a village just north of Segu. It was paradise!

Pictures of the weekend getaway will follow soon….