Mali: report 2005
April 2005: The milk supply is still critical. It is difficult to find, and expensive.
Souma dies, aged 17 months, fatherless. The mother gives no explanation.
Among the newcomers, 15 orphans aged from 0 to 2 years are undernourished. Sophie notes how useful our programme is.
Sophie is contacted by the pediatrician of the hospital. A 6-month baby swallowed a foreign object which gets stuck in its trachea. There is no instrument in the operating theatre. It is urgent to evacuate the child to Bamako (1,200 km). Sophie solicits the help of the better-off and organizes the transport of the baby and its mother by bus. Solidarity functions. Everything goes well. One week later, mother and baby, still a little hoarse but safe and sound, are back.
Following this incident, which could have ended dramatically, Sophie, suggests that the hospital management draw up a list of the missing but essential medical material for this kind of intervention. It would perhaps be possible to obtain it from Swiss and French hospitals and to find the means of conveying it by container, financed by several associations.
NOTE TO THE PEOPLE CONCERNED!
This month, several children seriously ill or undernourished were saved.
This is a great reward for us and it encourages us to continue our fight.
At the end of April: we counted 253 orphaned children. The number is high; we will have to control more tightly!
May 2005: Sophie notes that relations with the families are becoming closer. Women are more attentive to her advice on hygiene and food. This is encouraging. Besides some isolated cases, all the babies are in good health and in better condition. The numbers arriving on distribution days is nevertheless variable, but Sophie has no explanation. She must insist on, and repeat the instructions for the young child's daily milk ration. She will need time and patience to change this way of life.
The children called Sophie "Sophie woua-woua" which means "milk" in English!
Sophie asks for a protocol of collaboration with the social services to be drawn up concerning the malnourished orphans,. Shocked by the cases presented, they promise their support. According to a study of "Action contre la faim ", one child in four in the area of Gao suffers from malnutrition.
At the end of May: cases of bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia are diagnosed. It is a little early for the season. The antibiotic reserve decreases. Paracetamol syrup and chloroquine syrup are missing and Sophie must buy them from the PPM (popular pharmacy of Mali).
The price of milk still does not fall and a sack of 100 kg of millet costs 19,000 FCFA. The area is ever more impoverished; thefts and trafficking of goods increase in spite of vigilance and repression by the authorities. A climate of insecurity reigns.
The number of orphans has fallen to 184; 69 people took advantage of the situation but we cannot be angry with them, because their living conditions are difficult.
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