In Which It's Never Good When The Babies Are Having Babies
on Zoe Page (Sierra Leone), 02/Nov/2010 20:01, 34 days ago
Vasile is picked up by her driver in an immaculate 4WD and I blag a lift as far as the cross roads, cutting my half hour walking commute in half. I head into the hospital and repeat yesterday’s failed attempt to find people on my ‘to do’ list. With all the doors still padlocked, I head over to the Under Fives to enquire about the supervisory schedule. I was told it would be ready by 2pm yesterday but I’m not expecting it to be done yet, just as well since it’s not.I head into one of the cupboard sized offices and sit down in an attempt to get some attention, but after a cursory 'Good Morning'I am nicely disregarded. I read a chapter ofNineteen Minutes(better than I remember it) and then clear my throat loudly before asking what is going on today. The answer is...nothing. But I am not giving up just yet, especially as I found out there WAS an important meeting yesterday, at the council no less, despite Pius declaring the opposite. Sure enough, a few chapters later Clifford appears and is told there is a DHMT meeting at 2pm. And they were hiding this from me because....?Cliff wants a computer lesson and I have nothing better to do (after all, I already know whodunit) so I follow him out. He goes off to try to locate a PC but returns about 15 minutes later to say he has had no joy. He wonders whether he should pay at one of the computer places (I don’t know whether he means an internet cafe or a training centre) and I say sure, but he ‘needs to arrange it’ so it can’t happen now. Story of my life. I ask what he is up to today and, long story short, he tells me he was recruited to the DHMT last year following 20 years in the field but his role is not defined yet. He has been here more than a year, and still has no job. And I thought I had it bad. He tells me the DHMT is ‘instruction led’, explaining why every day there are people sitting around waiting to receive orders. If there’s no one to give them, or nothing to order, they will literally sit there all day long.I decide that although I will go to the meeting,Iam not willing to sit and wait for the next 4 hours, so I come home, stopping to buy stuff for tea and some fruit on the way. Vasile sends me a text to see how I am, prompting the response that I have bananas and am also going a bit bananas. After lunch and a bit of internet time, I grab a bike back to the hospital. I get there for 1.30pm, so settle myself down outside the supposed venue (Dr S’s office). I say ‘supposed’ because I saw the memo and signature sheet, and there’s no way we’ll all fit in.2 pmI check the time and decide I can probably squeeze in one more chapter. After all, This Is Africa2.20 pmThere’s no sign of anyone2.30 pmCliff passes by and casually mentions that the venue has changed. So first I wasn’t invited, and then they moved the meeting without telling me. Way to make me feel included.2.31pmWe are in the classroom but, hey, the meeting’s still not started2.38 pmThe sign in sheet goes round. Um, hang on, didn’t we already sign up to attend?2.40 pmPrayer time: not the Lord’s prayer this time, but a tonal Muslim hum, followed by“Dead Lord, thank you for bringing us here together to help the health of our local people”And there was me, thinking it was a hastily typed and badly worded memo that had summoned us, not divine intervention.2.42 pmThe meeting starts. Dr S refuses to chair, and makes Janet to it instead. It is not the‘team meeting’ I predicted, it is an extraordinary meeting to talk about the ITN campaign coming at the end of the month (for which we had ‘how to round numbers’ training a few weeks ago). Despite refusing to chair, Dr S takes to the floor and talks a while, followed by Janet. Some absolutegems:Each one of us has a very, very tedious task to accomplish.We held a stakeholder meeting with people from all walks of life(except, no, it was attended by different NGOs, the council etc. Pretty much all from the same walk of life)Sensitization is very, very paramount.We must muster effort.We are targeting pregnant, lactating under fives.Gotta love those rolling-together sentences.3pmWe start talking about the nets. Major problem #1 is how to stop people using them to catch fish. We acknowledge the issue, but don’t know how to solve it.3.10pmMy phone rings. It is someone in the meeting. I look over and he flashes me a grin. Because calling me from across the room in a meeting? That’s appropriate.We finish up going through a list of people to send begging letters to. The nets are being centrally funded and supplied, but we don’t have the transport to get them out to the field, so among others Goal, IRC, UNHCR, Marie Stopes, Caritas, Unicef, the Police, the Military and the Sierra Leone Red Cross are going to be approached and asked to supply vehicles and fuel. I get the impression it is widely believed they step up, asthere’s no back up plan on the table.As the meeting ends, I go to collect my helmet and am walking off site when a familiar looking car pulls up. It’s my failed chauffeur from Friday (and also the guy who called me earlier) trying to make amends. And, because it’s now at the point where I will do anything to save 14p, I agree to an offer of a lift, saving me an Ocada but subjecting me instead to 11 whole minutes of thumping, African bible music. I’m not sure I made the right choice.