Blog 29 januari 2012
First some news about Arnaud. On Wednesday Arnaud was brought back home from the hospital. At least he is among his love ones and for Lydie she can take care of him and at the same time look after the kids. We were looking for an hospital bed. Not easy, you cannot just Google "rent a hospital bed" around here. We finally found a bed thanks to Désiré. We had provided several hospital beds (used beds from The Netherlands) to the medical dispensary of Kofila. We were able to borrow one bed from them which is a very big favour thanks to the good relations of Désiré with the local nurse. As soon as Arnaud was is in his new surroundings, the children were able to come and talk to him. The youngest one (2 years) decided to lay alongside his father bringing a big smile on Arnaud's face. As Eugénie said all the trouble of getting him home was rewarded by this image. Eugénie was the one opening the eyes of Lydie on the situation of Arnaud and after discussing with Lydie she also talked to the older kids before Arnaud came back home. A lot of emotional strain.
Blog 22 januari 2012
First trip to Burkina in 2012.
The mood on this trip is first sadness. We have been following and trying to help (mainly Eugénie) the health problem of a person close to us. We are now here and it is to find out that Arnaud(42) only has weeks to live. Two months ago, from The Netherlands with the bit of information we had, it was already clear that the cancer was too advanced to be cured, especially with the available therapy in Burkina Faso. What is really frustrating is the arrogance and the incompetence of some of the medical doctors here. We knew that it was difficult to find a doctor, so you cannot be choosy if you find one. Unfortunately it looks that it is better not to see the doctor than to see some of them. When one of those doctors is a "professor", chef de Clinique and teacher of young doctors it is even worse. A lot of people we talked to know about this "incompetent" doctor, but nobody does anything about it. Anyway thanks to think about Arnaud and his family.
Blog 6 November 2011
Surprise! Another message.
I could not resist sending you two additional stories coming out of this last trip to Burkina Faso.
Secondary school teachers in private schools in Bobo Dioulasso:
Most private school founders are business people. They are not interested in the education part but in money coming from education. For example the director we have for our Private Agricultural School (LAP) was in charge of studies in a secondary school for 2 years without being declared (no retirement plan, no health insurance). Most of the teachers of private secondary schools are temporary teachers. A permanent teacher would have to be declared (16% additional costs for the employer) and paid monthly. Most temporary teachers have another job as teachers in a public school (fully employed).
