what am i doing here anyway?

So as I mentioned before, I am here to fulfill a practicum requirement for my masters degree. I am working for a non-profit, non-governmental organization which works in over 40 countries. Typically they work in conflict areas, offering services to refugees and internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and helping to rebuild in post-conflict areas. They opened an office in Cote d'Ivoire following the crisis in 2002. Initially, their program focused on offering IDPs education and health care services. But as things have become more stable here, they've started programs in water and sanitation (building and rehabbing water pumps and latrines), gender-based violence, economic recovery, and community-building.

I am working with the health program here. There are 2 main health programs just getting started. One is a health system rebuilding program. It includes training community health workers and traditional birth attendants, reestablishing the health committees and management teams that were functioning before the crisis, as well as some clinic rehabilitation and ensuring clinics are stocked with essential medicines. The other project is a pilot project for community case management of diarrhea, malaria, and pneumonia. Basically this program entails training community health workers to treat these 3 diseases, which are the top killers of children in lower income countries. Treating these diseases at the community level, and not just in health posts and clinics which the poorest cannot access, is critical to lowering the mortality rates of children. However, because it requires community members to handle medications, many doctors are resistant to it.

One way organizations evaluate how well their projects are carried out and what impact they have is to conduct pre and post surveys. This was done before I arrived, so my first task here has been to analyze the data from the survey. I'm hoping to finish my first draft of the report this week. This is my first real data analysis project, so its been a lot of work! Here is my proudest accomplishments from the report - a population pyramid of the survey population. Check it out:


As you can see, there are lots of young kids here. Over half the population here is under 20 years old. Also notice how the female side is bigger than male side. A lot of males here leave their villages to work on farms and factories. Anyway, this graph may not be interesting for everyone, but I think its super cool!

holy cheap produce

this big bag of spinach cost 40¢

My newest digs

Do you say digs or diggs?

Here are some pictures of my house in Yamoussoukro:






My desk in my room












My bed, with mosquito net (knock on wood, I haven't had too many bites so far)

















Stars above my bed, left by the previous resident















The patio
Nice for stretching after a run, having lunch, etc









Note: New cushions were recently made for the patio furniture.








They have cats on them and say things like "Happy to you" and "Make progress"









Awesome.

Crocodiles

So I've made it safely to Yamoussoukro. Yamoussoukro is interesting... It is the birth place of Cote d'Ivoire's first president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who was in office for 33 years. He made the city the capital of Cote d'Ivoire and proceeded to build a huge presidential compound, a bunch of fancy hotels for ministers and foreign dignitaries, and the largest Christian place of worship (in a predominately Muslim and animist country...). The city has wide boulevards (like 4-6 lanes), lined with street lamps and trees. Its all very grand, but weirdly the city is nearly empty. And the streets have huge potholes and trash heaps spilling out onto them. Here's a link to some good pictures from the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/africa_ivory_coast%E2%80%99s_plush0_empty_capital/html/1.stm

And also a picture... across from my office is the huge presidential compound, which is surrounded by a lagoon filled with crocodiles! These crocs are well-loved and get fed live chickens once a day. There are separated from street by a measly fence. This crocidile thinks I want to feed him.



I've been meaning to write more often, its just that there never seems to be much time!

Last day in Abidjan

Today is my last day in Abidjan, the effective capital of Cote d'Ivoire. This afternoon I will leave for Yamoussoukro, which is the real capital but all of the country's government and administrative offices are in Abidjan. The health department of this organization is based in Yamoussoukro because it is closer to the districts where the biggest health projects are being implemented.

There are a lot of perks to being in Abidjan: lots of foreigners, good restaurants, supermarkets with familiar foods! At the guest house I have been spoiled to have the housekeeper who makes me breakfast every morning: fresh orange juice, tea, fresh fruit (usually mango, bananas, and papayas), and baguette. But there is also bad air quality and pollution, trash (in Abidjan, like other places with ineffective garbage systems, most people burn their trash),crazy drivers, lots of noise, lots of foreigners, etc.

I'm looking forward to Yamoussoukro...

Here is my room at the guest house in Abidjan. I will be here for about a week.




















The kitchen.













My first mango here!
















The street nearby the guest house.

My first week

Here are some excerpts from the journal I'm keeping, to catch you up on my first week:

9:21 pm, 9 June 2009
On my way to Abidjan I spent the day in Dakar. It was a warm welcome. John and Cece (John's dad and step mom) met me at the airport, and navigated me through the maze of people. It was still very early, pre-dawn. We went straight to their house, which is near the lighthouse (Dakar is the most eastern point of continental Africa) and this crazy statue being built which John described as the Senegalese’s Statue of Liberty. Their place is very nice, we had tea and coffee on a rooftop screened in deck in the early morning. Then I napped on and off for a few hours, as the family came and went. Around noon, Cece, John and I met up for lunch with a health contact John made for me, who hopefully I'll be able to work with after Cote D'Ivoire. Post lunch, I had a few minutes to check email and then headed back to the airport. I can’t imagine what I would have done without John and Cece; I’m very grateful.

But now I am in Abidjan, the largest city in Cote D'Ivoire. When landing, I could not see much from the plane. It looked empty, completely dark. But apparently the airport is far from Abidjan because this is the biggest, most developed African city I have ever been in (which doesn't say much because I've only been to Benin and now Senegal). The airport is quite modern; they even have the walkway that meets the plane (which they did not in Benin or Senegal). There were a lot of foreigners at the airport but not a lot of the pushy taxi drivers or porters. I was met at the airport by a driver. The roads here are pretty decent (they might be better than Baltimore’s). We drove through some of the city, including a downtown area with a bunch of tall buildings and big neon signs for Pepsi and Maggi Spices. I was really surprised, it is so different than what I've seen before.

So I arrived at the guest house around 9 pm, which is basically a 3 bedroom apartment in a small apartment building. Each room has a bathroom and air conditioning; its simple but nice.

10:41 pm, 10 June 2009
Last night there was a HUGE storm, waking me up at around 4 am. Was the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard and endless stream of lightening. Unfortunately my window was not closed properly and I had a mini flood in my room. I could not get the windows shut; when I closed one the other opened. Super frustrating. Eventually the rain relented and I got the window closed enough. Upon wakening, I was ready for my first shower here... no running water. Apparently this was due to the storm, but it being my first day however, I wasn’t sure if I was doing something wrong or just an idiot or what.

My first day was busy. Met everyone, received lots of information, and got a cell phone. My French is not as terrible as I’d thought and everyone seems to be pleased with it. Fairly young organization, lots of 30 year olds. My boss is nice and seems to really know what she is doing.

9:34 pm, 13 June 2009
End of my first week. I am getting more comfortable. I have been working on a survey that was implemented in April, cleaning and getting ready to do the analysis. It’s a short knowledge and behavior survey, about 900 households. It will be a good survey for my first real analysis! The two main health projects I will be working on are a CIDA (Canadian aid agency) grant to do community case management of malaria, diarrhea, and (hopefully) pneumonia and then an EU project that concerns early childhood and maternal care. My boss has been meeting with doctors here to convince them of the acceptability of having community health workers treat and manage pneumonia. There is a lot of resistance.


7:24 pm, 13 June 2009
Today I experienced my first “hache”. One of the coordinators invited me to go the French hache, or HHH, short for something I can't remember. Basically a group of expatriates and nationals meet up, ours started at 4pm. You pay a few dollars and the organizers have mapped out a course for you to run/walk; it was a 14 km run or 2 km walk. There are designated “hares” to follow. At the half point, there is water. At the French hache, there is also soda and beer. There is a short break for everyone, then back to the start. At the end, there is often a sort of ceremony: newcomers are hazed a bit, people are made to drink beer for various reasons. There are also haches organized by other groups; so there is an English hache, an American hache, etc. Sometimes there are more formal "classic haches", and t-shirts are made and food is served. And these are not particular to Cote D’Ivoire. Apparently they happen everywhere! HAS ANYONE ELSE HEARD OF THIS? This hache was hilly. I am proud to have run a good portion of the 14 km. Not bad for my first week here.

Tonight we are going for sushi! I am continually surprised by how developed this city is. It is so different from Benin and even Senegal. There are tons of little supermarkets with all sorts of French and Middle Eastern packaged foods (and Red Bull even). Then there is Sococe, this big shopping center. It has a nice supermarket inside (with a produce section) and then a bunch of other stores, like a pharmacy, a book store, a food court. Sococe even has good French cheese and smoked salmon (for $15…). I hope it doesn’t sound condescending that I am surprised these things are here. I am basing this on my knowledge of other West African countries.

9:21 pm, 14 June 2009
Today is Sunday, lazy Sunday. I slept in again. Watched the French news channel. I watch about a half hour each day, which I think is useful for improving my French. There are only 3 channels at the guest house (apparently there are more but someone forgot to pay the bill). It rained this afternoon so I watched a movie. I’ve watched 3 movies so far. It’s good for curbing home sickness and loneliness. After the rain died down I motivated to go to Sococe, the big shopping center. I took a taxi there, a little nerve racking as they drive fast and there are no seat belts in the back seat! At Sococe I stopped into the book store and found a book a friend had suggested, “Allah n’est pas oblige” by Ahmadou Kourouma, a well known Ivoirien writer. It is about child soldiers. Then I picked up some basics at the grocery store. I sort of thought before that working in Africa, one would be able to save a lot of money because it is so cheap here, but that is not the case! To live and eat as you do in America is expensive. I ran into some coworkers at the supermarket and they gave me a ride home. Everyone has been super nice and friendly.

This evening I worked a little on my survey. I made couscous with lemon, tomatoes, and goat cheese. I've been playing chess on my computer and today I won on level 2. I guess I need to up it to level 3. My plan is to improve so I can compete with John...