Toubakouta Day 2

Written february 15th, 2022

Today was public health day. We started off the morning with a delicious breakfast with a view. We then took a bus to a “Poste de Sante” in a nearby village.

Typically each village has one poste where the state assigns a doctor to live and work there. The post has a few buildings. One was for the general public, another for the pharmacy.

The pharmacy

Then there is a separate building for mothers (pre, during, and post childbirth). The reasoning is to isolate any sickness to other areas. I found it interesting that most of the patients there were expecting mothers.

The maternity ward

The last building was an open area that weighs any infant that enters the clinic. The main indicator of infant malnutrition is the weight of the child. So there is one man who weights the children. If they are malnourished he gives them a formula that is made of locally grown substances like corn, peanut, ect. The child can be nourished in as fast as 15 days. All children treated at the center are treated for free.

In the center, there is one woman who works with mothers, the chief physician, his assistant, and a pharmacist. The pharmacist is an older man who could retire, but there is no one willing to take over his job so he continues to work as a service to his community. The healthcare workers truly devote their lives to this job, living and working 24/7. The state is supposed to reimburse the clinic but often doesn’t so the chief physician covers much out of pocket. The pharmacy is another area of concern as towards the end of the month the clinic runs out of medicine. Not only is it expensive, but hard to come by. I asked what they do if they don’t have the medicine to treat someone and he said they have to ask around to other clinics and borrow some, again illustrating the community-oriented sentiment.

After our tour we met with 3 ladies known as Bajenu Gox. These ladies work with the chief physician but are much closer to the villagers. They are older ladies who don’t have the reasonability of a household anymore (their children can cook and clean now) and are well respected due to their age. They work to bring awareness of medicine to the village, like bringing people to the hospital when sick/suggesting treatments. They also play a huge role in childbearing and reproductive health education. Often, pregnancy is seen as a sacred thing, so women hide their bellies. When a bajenu gox suspects pregnancy, they help the women provide for the baby. I found the intersection between medicine and community orientation really interesting in the form of these ladies. And what’s most surprising is that it is all volunteers (they don’t get paid). It’s not the typical volunteer where they choose hours however, they are available 24/7 to whichever needs arise…. It was so interesting to learn about.

After our panel, we went back to Sonko for lunch (the same house as yesterday). No dancing today, but there are 3 other college kids who are from Toubakouta that joined our group so we played some card games with them.

The town of Sonko

After lunch, we had some free time to swim, and then it was time for a soccer game. It was teachers/staff/Senegalese kids versus the American students. I’ve probably played 2 games in my life so was mainly a walking cheerleader on the field but it was fun nonetheless. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you who won, I think we did but it’s still being disputed. We had another delicious supper, recapped the day as a group, and then headed to bed.