Lots going on in Sikoroni lately! Mike departed for two weeks of traveling throughout Mali last week, and Gowri left for Paris shortly afterward. Niang and I stayed in Bamako to hold down the fort, and since I have been rather sick Niang has been busy! Just in case you are curious, my fever and (ahem) intestinal issues were NOT caused by malaria, typhoid, or parasites. I am on a couple antibiotics the past few days and stayed with my host family and friends in another quarter (Baco Djicoroni ACI rather than Sikoroni) while I recovered. I’m feeling much better after about three days of nonstop sleeping!

The Community Health Action Group (CHAG) that is in place here decided that we should do mosquito net treatment days for each of the three sectors. It is the rainy season, so most people have mosquito nets right now, but they are half as effective if left untreated. Last Saturday we had our first mosquito net treatment day. I was really impressed by the turnout. When we counted up packages of treatment, we had treated over 120 nets! We are going to do the same thing this Saturday and Sunday.

I’m including photos of Saturday’s events. We treated the nets with a product called BLOC, which came in tablets. You measure out a half liter of water in a large bowl for each tablet, dissolve the tablet, and add a net to the bowl. Then you mix it all up! I added the water—a very difficult job ;)

Nets were lined up behind me all morning! We treated for about three hours. If you notice in my picture, my hair is braided. I have tried to avoid “d’être tressé” (to be braided) all my time in Mali so far, but in this case, my friend Fifi just attacked while I was napping in a chair! Oh well…it was good bonding. My objection is pretty much purely aesthetic. White people don’t have pretty skulls. Just my luck to be caught on camera the next day! The day after the net treatment, I left for Baco Djicoroni.

I returned to Sikoroni Wednesday before 9 AM to meet Niang at the clinic. We were supposed to meet the CHAG members to welcome the pregnant women of sectors 1 and 2, but no one showed up! At 11 AM, Niang and I went out to visit the homes of the women who were supposedly coming to the clinic this morning to receive care and a free mosquito net. They had been misinformed about the time, so we told them to come next Wednesday with sector 3. Niang and I then visited the homes of all the children under five who either had not received vaccinations or had not received mosquito nets with their vaccinations to make sure they arrive at the right time this morning! It was a lot of visiting and walking around to different houses, but very worth it to make sure the message got out.

I remembered my camera for some of the houses, so I’ll include photos of that experience. As I remarked a month or so ago, it is truly amazing to see the families we are helping. I asked Niang today how Sigida Keneyali chose which houses to include in each sector. He told me they picked the poorest houses and left the ones that were better off. One of the houses we visited has 67 people living in it—a truly extended family. I don’t think the pictures do justice to the enormity of the poverty or of the amazing spirits of the inhabitants of these houses, but they’ll give you some idea!


So…a rather long entry, but things have really been happening! I took more pictures this morning when the kids all showed up at the clinic, and I’ll post about that this weekend along with the next net treatments. Lots of love!