OUR WORK > cbm co-worker stories from West Africa > The Rain Subsides
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The Rain Subsides
The Rain Subsides
Photo Above: Roadside billboards here are still a common way to communicate, there are many on AIDS prevention and using condoms, which hopefully gets the message across. One of the more recent events advertised was the annual Black Magic festival which as you can see is well sponsored by local big business – banks, phone companies, hotel chains, etc.
The rainy season has finished and the next month or so is very hot until Hamartan arrives to take the edge off the heat. However with the rains brought flooding which destroyed bridges and for a time the country was divided into seven “islands” with long detours to interconnect.
People have had more than enough to cope with recently, with rising food and fuel prices. In a country where one was previously aware of requests for bribes (petits cadeaux – little “gifts”) but could work around them, now the requests are more forceful and frequent. Desperate times. We heard rumors that some government salaries have not been paid for months.
We have had the rare luxury of four consecutive weeks just working in Lome. Our Eye Hospital, John Paul II, continues to make progress. Sister Alberta is the new no nonsense administrator. She is helping to better coordinate a regular programme of visiting teams travelling outside of the city of Lome to poor villages to find those in need of eye care services.
The team brings to Lome the cataract blind people every week for surgery. One of these patients, a tiny lady, was so overwhelmed the day after surgery when her eye pad was removed that she spontaneously burst out in songs of praise. She could see again! All the people around her, patients and families, joined in. A truly amazing experience that profoundly moved the newly arrived Sister Alberta.
We are now starting to plan activities for Dr. Wodome. He is the Togolese ophthalmologist who is due to return to our hospital when he finishes his training next April. Joseph, an eye nurse from the hospital, has become a valuable member of our team, dependable and eager to learn. He has been selected for training as a cataract surgeon starting in July 2009. This training will enable him to operate on uncomplicated cataracts under the supervision of Dr. Wodome, allowing the project to perform more operations to meet the demand.
In the New Year, we will see a new cbm funded venture start at our hospital. A shop, called a resource centre, attached to the hospital will begin selling the materials necessary for cataract surgery at low cost. The aim is to make cataract surgery consumables continuously accessible to all surgeons in the country at the lowest possible cost.
For example, currently in Lome only one shop sells the implant which is routinely used in cataract surgery at about USD35, when it is available. This makes the cost of local surgery too expensive for the poor and limits the work that can be performed. Our hospital shop will be able to sell the implant for USD3. In the past surgeons may have to stop work for a time until consumables are available in country, we trust that in the future this will be avoided.
We return Down Under at the end of the year for the Christmas period, some time to fulfill ongoing medical registration requirements for Neil, and some holiday also. We are very much looking forward to seeing family and friends.
Adieu,
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