 |
| The hospital site, taken December 2013 (the 'grass' you can see is now no longer there as it hasn't rained here since October 2013) |
Regarding the work at the hospital, all the staff have
been good to work with and it’s been good to learn the systems already
established here and help to develop the pharmacy related ones.
Recruiting
and training new Chadian pharmacist – the Chadian pharmacist here when I arrived wasn’t really up to the
job so we didn’t renew her contract and so I went through the recruitment
process with our hospital administrator.
We interviewed three candidates – in French obviously, interesting
experience – and I knew straight away who I felt would be the best candidate. I’ve been proved right as he’s been really
keen to learn from me and work hard to continue to maintain and develop
pharmacy services here. I’m hoping he’ll
continue to ensure that the hospital is stocked with sufficient quantities of
vital medicines, despite the sometimes inconsistent nature of the drug supply
chain here.
My three
Chadian pharmacy colleagues – in addition to the pharmacist there are two assistants in the
pharmacy. It’s been a pleasure to get to
know them. I’ve enjoyed working
alongside them, especially as they’ve all got a good sense of humour (once you’re on the Chadian humour
wavelength!). They’ve also all be very
patient with my slightly dodgy French which I’ve appreciated. As mentioned in a previous blog post, they’ve
also enables me to taste various Chadian delicacies. As well as the crickets, savonier and bouille
previously mentioned, I’ve also had the delight to taste a fair bit of mutton
(staple meat here, I politely declined the stomach lining), boiled eggs (from
the children who walk around the village selling them), Chadian ‘sandwich’
(baguette filled with either meat or egg), bananas, the list goes on.
Improved
drug supply to the main wards – one task asked of me was to improve the system used by the
nurses to dispense drugs to inpatients.
With the help of my parent’s Church in the UK I have been able to
design, commission and install a drug trolley!
This has enabled better segregation of each strip of tablets so that the
nurses can easily find the drug they’re looking for on their drug rounds. Previously the system was a bit more chaotic and
not very easy to use. |
| A road in N'Djamena |
Living where you
work, in the desert, means you need to make as much of an outside life as
reasonably possible. The hospital is
located on the edge of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. It takes about 20 minutes to drive there
(longer in rainy season!).
Friends
in town – it’s been good to
get to know other expatriates in who live and work in town. They are mainly other mission workers with
other agencies and it’s been great to have them to socialise with when there’s
some down time. There’s not a lot of
variation in the things you can do for leisure here. There’s one good outdoor pool, a lovely café
and various restaurants. So those are
the things we tend to do, other than that we just hang out at a friend’s house
and watch films. The pool – being able to go to the good outdoor pool here more-or-less all year round has been a highlight and was a definite treat. The only months we didn’t go were December and January because the high temperatures were ‘only’ in the twenties and the water wasn’t warm enough!
Grande marché (central market) – you have to be in the right frame of mind to go but I have enjoyed the busyness, craziness, hustle and bustle of the central market. There are people *everywhere*. And motorbikes. And the odd crazy driver who decides to drive his car through the narrow streets. You’ve got to keep your wits about you. Add in the high temperatures and you can begin to understand why you need to be in a certain frame of mind to go! At the beginning are ladies selling fruit and veg by the side of the road. Further in are the meat sellers and men selling cloth and headscarves. The list of what’s for sale at central market is endless, it’s a cavern of stalls and boutiques selling a wide range of stuff. It’s amazing what you can get there sometimes!
Chadian
family – Rebecca, my
colleague and housemate here at the hospital, introduced me to her Chadian
friends who she met when she lived in town at the start of her time here in
Chad. I’ve enjoyed visiting them with
her, seeing where and how they live and experiencing their typically generous
Chadian hospitality.
L’amandine – no expat visit to N’Djamena is
complete without becoming acquainted with L’amandine! I mentioned it in one of my first blog posts
and predicted I’d spend a fair bit of time there….which I have! It’s a lovely, air-conditioned café selling
coffee and yummy pastries amongst other things.
A definite treat and break from the heat and dust of living here.
I hope this has
given a flavour of some of my time here!
It’s been a hot, dusty experience with difficult times, but an
experience that I have enjoyed overall.
It’s been great living and working with the other Brits here at the
hospital and being part of a team of expats and Chadians that is endeavouring
to bring high quality and affordable healthcare to the people of North
N’Djamena and beyond.
I fly back to the UK
on Tuesday evening and will begin to adjust back to my home culture, with all
that that entails. Thanks for journeying
with me through my blog. Hopefully I’ll
get to see some of you in person soon!
Signing off from an
increasingly-hot Chad x
