I am waiting in
Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina Faso for Ruth Cox, who in 2000
founded Sheltering Wings Orphanage in Yako 100 kilometres north of
here. On 31st I was able to meet Ruth and arrange placement
for Margaret R from Tauranga, soon to graduate with a New Zealand
degree in Early Childhood Education. On June 1st I took the
bus back to Djibo. We were supposed to leave at 7:30 am but eventually
left at 10:00 am, and with long waits for refuelling and a blow out on
the road, a 4 hr trip ended up as a 6 hour trip and I arrive at Djibo
at 4 pm, still a blistering hot day.
Temperatures in the mid 40’s are common here at this time of year
and as all roads in Djibo are sand and clay the dust seems to
exxagerate the heat even more.
The next day straight back into learning mode with Dr Ken Elliott,
with open prostatectomies, hernias, hydrocoeles, hysterectomies,
osteomyelitis operations for sequestra removal, plaster treatment of
Talipes Equines deformity, removal of tumours of the neck, removal of
bladder stones, removal of severely damaged eyes and many more.
Operations except eye and neck ops are done mostly under spinal anaesthesia given by Dr Ken or myself.
Dr Ken has an operating list every morning, 6 mornings a week and in
the afternoons for 3 days a week he has surgical outpatient clinics
where he sees people needing operations , and assesses patients’
fitness for operations and occasionally other medical challenges as
well.
On June 6th I take the bus to Ouagadougou, the first 2
hours on a rough dusty gravel road with many corrugations that make it
impossible to sit in the back of the bus, without bouncing your head
off the roof !! Volunteer Margaret is expected to arrive in Burkina
Faso at 7:45 pm . However there are flight problems and next thing I
know Margaret will arrive at 02:30 hrs the next morning,
I go with Margaret to the Sheltering Wings orphanage in Yako where
there are 46 orphans in residence and 120 orphans placed in the
community, and make sure Margaret gets settled in there.
In no time at all Margaret was interacting usefully with the young
orphans who loved the attention and who are waiting for adoption in
Burkina or elsewhere.
I was asked to examine some of the children, one 9 yrs with a heart
problem and a 6 month old baby with repeated illnesses.With the
imminent arrival of a larger group at Yako Orphanage, (11 volunteers
from America ) I leave Margaret and return to Djibo on June 10th but a missed bus connection at Ouahigouya, means I rumbled into Djibo on June 11th to resume practical surgery learning on June 12th.
Unfortunately, after eating some street food in Yako, Margaret was
becoming increasingly unwell and was confined to the public guest house
with stomach problems, so that by Saturday afternoon June 13 th I
climbed back on the bus for the bumpy dusty road to Yako to ensure
volunteer Margaret was getting care and medicines that she needed!.
Once this was achieved and Margaret was turning the corner for the better, June 14th saw me back on the bus and back to Djibo.
These bus trips are truly an experience as the bus shakes , rattles
and rolls through the Sahel and the trees become more sparse and the
sand increases until at times there is nothing but red sand to the
horizon. The trees are all thorn trees it seems , which gives them some
protection from camels, donkeys , cattle and goats who are all
competing for the scarce foliage resources here in this inhospitable
geography and climate.
Sometimes the bus stops for reasons I don’t understand. The engine
is turned off as we pick up people in some remote village or load more
bicycles and motorcycles onto the roof of the bus and fill up the
inside so that every seat is occupied and there are people standing.
this in temperatures of maybe 45 degrees Celsius !!!!