Annas Alamudi (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} istanadendam) wrote,@ 2007-07-17 15:02:00 |
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Lariam Dreams
Well, I've finally arrived at the project in Saclepea, Nimba County after leaving Monrovia Friday morning for the kiss movement with with
the Nimba car. And no, a kiss movement has nothing to do with tilting your head to avoid bumping noses, neither does is have anything to do with tongue tickling: It is when a car heading from point A to point B leaves at around the same time as a car leaving point B for point A, so they can meet somewhere in the middle.
It was an interesting ride. Along the side of the road there were countless hulks of abandoned cars, some were rusty, others still had
their chassis and carriage work in good nick, all completely stripped of anything salvageable. Another thing that caught my interest was the public service billboards in the villages and hamlets that we drove past, which ranged from public health awareness ("Wash your hands after pupu") to peace building ("No matter what tribe or religion, we are all Liberians" or "Say no to mob violence") and more. Many, many of those billboards were about rape. "Real men don't rape!" exclaimed one. "Sexual abuse is a crime," says another. Yet another says, "Raped?! Come to the free clinic to avoid HIV/AIDS."
While in Monrovia, I read a book called Emergency Sex, written by three friends about their experiences working for the UN in the 90s, from Cambodia to Haiti, via Somalia, Bosnia and Liberia. In the chapter where one of them was working in Liberia, he asserts that during the civil war, an estimated 100.000 women were raped. When in transit in Brussels, I was chatting with a lady who works for another NGO dealing with sexual and gender based violence, who said that the place she works in receives upwards of 40 rape cases, often more than 100 cases per month. In many cases both the victim and perpetrator are under 15 years old. It seems the women of Liberia are still suffering.
Our compound has the feel of an idyllic tropical resort, with palm and rubber trees all around, a volleyball court, bamboo fencing et cetera. That is, if you ignore the business-like radio antennae, the continuous loud crackle of radio chatter during the day, and the fact that there is no mains power at all. At the moment our team hails from every continent on earth bar Antarctica, which adds to the cosmopolitan (?!) feel to the proceedings, as well as leading to interesting conversations and revelations. For example, today we agreed that health care in Kenya is far better than both Indonesia and Colombia. Or discussing Monty Python with a Frenchman ...
Job-wise, I am having quite a long handover/overlap with my predecessor, which is good. It's not rocket science, I just need to keep to a schedule already set, and remember to dot the I's and cross the T's. So far so good. We are a bit busy preparing for the opening of the out-patient department, which will happen on Wednesday, which in my case means that today I got to go shopping in the nearest town with a butcher, which is an hour drive away
The project itself is atypical of MSF, as at the moment we are building a comprehensive health centre, consisting of in-patient, out-patient, and obstetric departments, plus a pharmacy. At the moment the CHC is run in a tarpaulin complex, with all the above plus an isolation ward for suspected Lassa fever patients. I am told that that viral hemorrhagic fever is endemic to this area, and that we get quite a few cases. Having said that, malaria fills up the wards more than other diseases.
For that reason, as per common sense, we take malaria prophylaxis. Some take daily doses of Malarone. Me, I prefer my weekly tablet of Lariam. Apparently, some people suffer from psychological side effects of the latter, but all I get are really funky dreams, normally for two nights after taking it (In my case, Friday and Saturday nights). I had one dream where I got french kissed by a bipedal, eight armed version of the facehugger from the Alien movies ... That was interesting. In another, I gained the power of telekinesis, which was well cool, I was a bit sorry when my alarm went off, but there you go. In any case, I look forward to my next encounter with the wonderful world of Lariam-induced dreams. Hey, not only is it legal, it's REQUIRED!
On Sunday past, three of us went out for drinks with some of the staff in town. Initial assessment is that the local brew, Club Beer, is a
decent drink. Not fantastic, but a hell of a lot better than the Murree Beer we had in Pakistan. During the course of the afternoon (the sun comes over the yard-arm quite early on a Sunday), I realised that the key to understanding Liberian English, is to think of every word in English that begins with the phoneme uttered, and see which word fits into context. Think of Glaswegian where the word ends with the glottal stop, and I think it would be close. I experimented by cutting off words arbitrarily, but it's still hit and miss. I shall learn. Oh, yes.
So, there you go. My first few days in Saclepea, Nimba County. Stay tuned for further adventures of AdminMan, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.
Stay safe.
Well, I've finally arrived at the project in Saclepea, Nimba County after leaving Monrovia Friday morning for the kiss movement with with
the Nimba car. And no, a kiss movement has nothing to do with tilting your head to avoid bumping noses, neither does is have anything to do with tongue tickling: It is when a car heading from point A to point B leaves at around the same time as a car leaving point B for point A, so they can meet somewhere in the middle.
It was an interesting ride. Along the side of the road there were countless hulks of abandoned cars, some were rusty, others still had
their chassis and carriage work in good nick, all completely stripped of anything salvageable. Another thing that caught my interest was the public service billboards in the villages and hamlets that we drove past, which ranged from public health awareness ("Wash your hands after pupu") to peace building ("No matter what tribe or religion, we are all Liberians" or "Say no to mob violence") and more. Many, many of those billboards were about rape. "Real men don't rape!" exclaimed one. "Sexual abuse is a crime," says another. Yet another says, "Raped?! Come to the free clinic to avoid HIV/AIDS."
While in Monrovia, I read a book called Emergency Sex, written by three friends about their experiences working for the UN in the 90s, from Cambodia to Haiti, via Somalia, Bosnia and Liberia. In the chapter where one of them was working in Liberia, he asserts that during the civil war, an estimated 100.000 women were raped. When in transit in Brussels, I was chatting with a lady who works for another NGO dealing with sexual and gender based violence, who said that the place she works in receives upwards of 40 rape cases, often more than 100 cases per month. In many cases both the victim and perpetrator are under 15 years old. It seems the women of Liberia are still suffering.
Our compound has the feel of an idyllic tropical resort, with palm and rubber trees all around, a volleyball court, bamboo fencing et cetera. That is, if you ignore the business-like radio antennae, the continuous loud crackle of radio chatter during the day, and the fact that there is no mains power at all. At the moment our team hails from every continent on earth bar Antarctica, which adds to the cosmopolitan (?!) feel to the proceedings, as well as leading to interesting conversations and revelations. For example, today we agreed that health care in Kenya is far better than both Indonesia and Colombia. Or discussing Monty Python with a Frenchman ...
Job-wise, I am having quite a long handover/overlap with my predecessor, which is good. It's not rocket science, I just need to keep to a schedule already set, and remember to dot the I's and cross the T's. So far so good. We are a bit busy preparing for the opening of the out-patient department, which will happen on Wednesday, which in my case means that today I got to go shopping in the nearest town with a butcher, which is an hour drive away
The project itself is atypical of MSF, as at the moment we are building a comprehensive health centre, consisting of in-patient, out-patient, and obstetric departments, plus a pharmacy. At the moment the CHC is run in a tarpaulin complex, with all the above plus an isolation ward for suspected Lassa fever patients. I am told that that viral hemorrhagic fever is endemic to this area, and that we get quite a few cases. Having said that, malaria fills up the wards more than other diseases.
For that reason, as per common sense, we take malaria prophylaxis. Some take daily doses of Malarone. Me, I prefer my weekly tablet of Lariam. Apparently, some people suffer from psychological side effects of the latter, but all I get are really funky dreams, normally for two nights after taking it (In my case, Friday and Saturday nights). I had one dream where I got french kissed by a bipedal, eight armed version of the facehugger from the Alien movies ... That was interesting. In another, I gained the power of telekinesis, which was well cool, I was a bit sorry when my alarm went off, but there you go. In any case, I look forward to my next encounter with the wonderful world of Lariam-induced dreams. Hey, not only is it legal, it's REQUIRED!
On Sunday past, three of us went out for drinks with some of the staff in town. Initial assessment is that the local brew, Club Beer, is a
decent drink. Not fantastic, but a hell of a lot better than the Murree Beer we had in Pakistan. During the course of the afternoon (the sun comes over the yard-arm quite early on a Sunday), I realised that the key to understanding Liberian English, is to think of every word in English that begins with the phoneme uttered, and see which word fits into context. Think of Glaswegian where the word ends with the glottal stop, and I think it would be close. I experimented by cutting off words arbitrarily, but it's still hit and miss. I shall learn. Oh, yes.
So, there you go. My first few days in Saclepea, Nimba County. Stay tuned for further adventures of AdminMan, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.
Stay safe.
