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working with health clinic staff |
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Me with Donne. This guy is a good friend of mine and the most hard-working, dynamic Malagasy person I know. He stays on late at the health clinic, works weekends to get paperwork done, even operates a small clinic out of his house and checks up on people in need in far-away villages. He is also a huge joker, so he keeps me entertained. |
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These are the staff at my village health clinic. From left to right: Doctor Bako, Mlle. Dimby (the dispensaire), and Donne (the assistant to Doctor Bako). The nurse, Mme. Sylviane is not pictured.. |
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Vaccine day at the health clinic. Every Friday, mothers bring their new-borns to get vaccinated and it is complete mayhem. But, Donne, Syvliane and myself manage to make sure everyone gets the shots they need. I am usually on recording and filing duty; every vaccine that is administered has to be documented on an index card. |
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Mme. Sylviane giving the oral polio vaccine to an infant. You guys would not believe how much these kids cry and resist getting medicine...from 9 in the morning until 1 pm it is constant shrieking in this little receiving room. But, it's work that needs to be done. |
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On the road during the measles campaign. For two weeks, there was a nation-wide campaign to get every child up to the age of 15 vaccinated against measles. I went with the health clinic staff to all of the villages in our "commune," spreading the word about the vaccinations and setting up mobile health units. Some of the older kids were afraid to get vaccinated, and ran off, but we chased almost every one down. We were kind of like health workers and military commando-types at the same time. Fun stuff! |
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Two of my favorite health "animators" read traditional Malagasy poetry about AIDS before a soccer game gets underway. These guys, Vonjilahy and Roto, are really good community educators, and we work with them to make people aware of health issues like AIDS and malaria. |
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Sometimes I go on tournee to do health "sensiblizations" with Donne. We get on our bicycles and ride an hour or two out of town to these little tiny villages to talk with people about health issues like malaria and the importance of vaccines. Here, I am talking to an assembled group of Antandroy people in the village of Anpandratokana. Two local health "animators" (Vonjilahy and Roto) who work with Donne and me are in the background. |
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Vonjilahy getting into our presentation on malaria. This guy was always up for anything, and really enjoyed getting people to talk about health. He died of complications from Tuberculosis in October 2004, and we all miss him. |
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Standing in front of amused kids in Vatobe. Donne and I did a presentation on malaria in this village about 8 kilometers from Ankily. Everyone got into it, and I was happy with the job we did, but when we were done with our presentation, one woman raised her hand and said something like, "Yeah, we get malaria here and it is a problem, but the REAL problem we have is fleas." Fantastic! Thanks for sharing! |
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