Photo of the week

Family stories

Benoist — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:52:00 +0200

English version (French version below)

It has been a long time since I wrote last. Today I want to tell you the story of two mothers I met in Nigeria.

The first one, Shema’u is the mother of 8 children. The oldest is 20 and the youngest is 2 years old. She should be the mother of 9 now as she was 8 months pregnant when I met her. She lives in the village of Dawakin Tofa in the state of Kano in the northern part of Nigeria.

The second one is Mariam. She is the mother of 4 children and the grandmother of 6. She also lives in the state of Kano but in the village of Tofa. When I met these 2 women they were about to receive 2 nets each, given for free by the Government of Nigeria and several international donors.

They were both very excited to be able to get these nets has they knew that it will protect them and their children from malaria. Malaria is the biggest killer disease in Nigeria, representing ¼ of the malaria cases in Africa.

None of these 2 women or their family ever had the chance to sleep under a net. Not that they didn’t know about it, but they couldn’t afford it. Let’s say that the bed net cost about 10 USD (7 Euros). Let’s also say that 4 people could sleep under it and keep away from mosquito bites. If you divide 10 by 4 then you get the price of 1 life, in that case 2.5 USD (1.75 euros). 2.5 USD (1.75 Euros) to save a life. Let’s try to think what cost 2.5 USD in our everyday life. Scary isn’t it?

Shema’u came back home this day with two nets. (as the policy was to give 2 nets per household). She then had to make the choice of who will be sleeping under the nets as the whole family wouldn’t fit. She chose to protect herself as she was pregnant and to also protect the younger ones. Maryam didn’t have this problem as her children are older and don’t leave at home anymore. She decided to keep one of the net for her and her grandchildren who often sleep with her and to offer the second one to her oldest grandchild as a wedding gift as she was soon to be married. Very nice and important gift she made. Very important because this net will protect this young couple and their children to come but will also get them use to using the net and hopefully they will transmit that good habit to their own children.

The campaign that is taking place in Nigeria at the moment is trying to reach the goals of universal net coverage by the end of 2010. This means that by the end of 2010, 80% of the population should be sleeping under a long lasting insecticidal net. Difficult goal, many countries in Africa won’t reach it, but it seems that Nigeria and some other countries will succeed. This could result in saving thousand of lives every year, the same lives which cost about 2.5 USD (1.75 Euros).

Things are progressing, money is getting to the countries and people are motivated. All we need now is to keep the spirit and the fight up because if we let it down, if there is any breach, then more people will die and since we have everything we need to avoid this to happen, it will be our fault.

For now Shema’u and Mariam are saying na gode, na gode, na gode. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

If you want to see more photos of the bed net distributioncampaign in Nigeria follow these links:

http://www.bcarpentier.com/Portraits_Nigeria/index.html

http://www.bcarpentier.com/Campaign_Nigeria/index.html

Version française

Cela fait longtemps que je n’ai pas écrit. Aujourd’hui je voulais vous raconter l’histoire de 2 mères que j’ai rencontrées au Nigéria.

La première, Shema’u est la mère de 8 enfants. Le plus âgé a 20 ans et le plus jeune a 2 ans. A l’heure actuelle elle devrait être la mère de 9 enfants car elle était enceinte de 8 mois quand nous nous sommes rencontré. Shema’u habite le village de Dawakin Tofa dans l’état de Kano au nord du Nigéria.

La deuxième est Maryam. Elle est la mère de 4 enfants et la grand-mère de 6 petits-enfants. Maryam vit également dans l’état de Kano mais dans le village de Tofa. Quand j’ai rencontré ces 2 femmes elles allaient recevoir gratuitement 2 moustiquaires, données par le gouvernement du Nigéria et par de nombreux donneurs internationaux. Elles étaient toutes les 2 très excitées de recevoir ces moustiquaires car elles savaient que ça les protègeraient elles et leurs enfants du paludisme. Le paludisme est la maladie qui tue le plus de personne au Nigeria et représente ¼ du nombre total de cas de paludisme en Afrique.

Aucune de ces deux femmes ou leur famille n’a jamais eu la chance de dormir sous une moustiquaire. Pas qu’elles ne savaient pas que ça pouvait les protéger mais financièrement elles ne pouvaient pas se l’offrir. Disons qu’une moustiquaire coute environ 7 euros. Disons également que 4 personnes peuvent dormir dessous et se protéger des piqures de moustiques. Si vous divisez 7 par 4 vous obtenez le prix d’une vie, dans ce cas 1.75 euros. 1.75 euros pour sauver une vie. Essayons de réfléchir à ce qui coute 1.75 euros dans notre vie de tous les jours. Ca fait peur non ?

Ce jour là, Shema’u est revenu avec ses 2 moustiquaires (la politique étant de donner 2 moustiquaires par famille). Sa famille étant très nombreuse, elle a donc du faire un choix pour savoir qui allait dormir sous ces moustiquaires. Etant enceinte, elle choisit de se protéger en premier et également de protéger les plus jeunes de ses enfants. Maryam n’a pas eu ce problème car ses enfants sont plus âgés et ne dorment plus chez elle. Elle a décidé de garder une moustiquaire pour elle et ses petits enfants qui dorment souvent avec elle et d’offrir la deuxième à sa petite fille la plus âgée comme cadeau de mariage, celle-ci devant se marier très bientôt. C’est un cadeau très important qu’elle fait à sa petite fille. Très important car cette moustiquaire protégera ce jeune couple et leur enfants à venir mais aussi les habituera à l’usage de la moustiquaire. Ainsi ils pourront alors enseigner cette bonne habitude à leurs enfants.

La campagne qui se déroule au Nigéria actuellement a pour but d’atteindre la couverture universelle en moustiquaire au Nigeria avant la fin 2010. Cela veut dire qu’avant la fin 2010, 80% de la population devrait dormir sous une moustiquaire imprégnée d’insecticide à longue durée d’action. C’est un but difficile à atteindre, beaucoup de pays en Afrique n’y parviendront pas, mais il semble que le Nigeria et plusieurs autres pays d’Afrique vont réussir. Cela devrait permettre de sauver des milliers de vies, les mêmes vies dont la valeur est estimée à 1.75 euros…

Les choses progressent, l’argent arrive dans les pays, les gens sont motivés. Tout ce dont nous avons besoin maintenant c’est de continuer la lutte et de rester motivé car si on abandonne, si il y a la moindre petite fissure alors encore plus de gens vont mourir et comme nous avons tout ce qu’il faut pour l’éviter, alors ce sera de notre faute.

Mais maintenant, Shema’u et Maryam vous disent na gode, na gode na gode. Merci, merci, merci.

Si vous voulez voir plus de photos de la campagne de distribution de moustiquaires au Nigeria, suivez ces liens:

http://www.bcarpentier.com/Portraits_Nigeria/index.html

http://www.bcarpentier.com/Campaign_Nigeria/index.html

World Malaria Day 2009

Benoist — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:21:00 +0200

Is it really the question? - Est-ce vraiment la question?

Benoist — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:19:00 +0100

English Version

One of the recent experiences I have had is that of visiting Togo as part of work done with the International Federation of the Red Cross. From this trip I would like to about a young woman of 25, named Samiétou.

She was visiting a midwife at Sokode polyclinique, in a region of Togo called Centrale. Samiétou, a mother of two children, is now 5 months pregnant, however this visit was her first prenatal visit. She is well aware of the importance of these visits for her health and that of her baby.

So why did it take 5 monhs for Samiétou to come to the clinic ?

The answer is very simple : 1500 CFA + 4800 CFA =6300… 6300 CFA (about 15 USD).It took 5 months for Samiétou to be able to collect the necessary amount to come to the visit. Infact not quite.. By this visit Samiétou only had 1500 CFA which will pay for her to obtain the pregnancy book. By coming to this visit she will also get a full diagnostic and will receive free preventive treatment against malaria. If she is willing an HIV/AIDS test also (photo).But in order to do the full blood tests required for a pregnant woman for a pregnancy check up she will have to find the 4800 CFA. This is clearly difficult since it took her 5 months to collect the 1500 CFA for the book. So for the 4800…………...

Samiétou doesn’t have an income and fully depends on her husband small income. She will have to convince him to find the money when she returns home. The midwife, Amèyo will play the intermediary between Samiétou and her husband and try to persuade him to find and give her the money as well as come for an HIV/AIDS test himself. Of course the expenses of this couple won’t stop here, Samiétou will have to pay for the delivery of the baby at this clinic.

In the developed world, we are living in a system where access to care and health is almost universal. In a majority of countries in Africa, if you are lucky enough to live not too far from a health center or a clinic, you still have major obstacles. Currently there are ongoing discussions on the idea of making people pay for goods like mosquito nets or drugs in extremely poor countries, to apparently “make people responsible, to teach them that what they buy has a value so they should take good care of it” . For me it would always be better to be alive and not fully responsible, than dead because one had no means to save enough to buy a needed drug.

Version Française

Une de mes récentes expérience, pour un travail pour la Féderation Internationale de la Croix Rouge m’a amené au Togo. De ce voyage je vais vous parler de d’une jeune femme de 25 ans, Samiétou. Elle venait consulter la sage femme de la polyclinique de Sokode, dans la region Centrale du Togo Samietou, mère de deux enfants, est enceinte de 5 mois et pourtant il s’agit de sa première visite prénatale. Elle connaît l’importance de ces visites pour sa santé et la santé de son enfant.

Alors pourquoi Samietou a attendu 5 longs mois pour venir à la clinique ?

La réponse est simple : 1500+4800=6300… 6300 francs CFA (environ 10 euros). Il a fallu 5 mois à Samiétou pour récolter la somme necessaire pour venir à la consultation…enfin pas tout a fait. Pour l’instant Samiétou à réussi à réunir 1500 CFA qui lui permettent d’acheter le carnet de suivi de grossesse. En venant à la consultation, elle sera examinée et recevra gratuitement un traitement préventif contre le paludisme. Si elle le souhaite, un test VIH pourra également être effectué gratuitement (cf photo). Mais pour pouvoir effectuer les tests sanguins (bilan de grossesse), Samietou va devoir trouver 4800 CFA. Il lui a fallu 5 mois pour récolter 1500 CFA..donc pour 4800 CFA…

Samiétou n’a pas de salaire ou de rentrée d’argent. Elle dépend de son mari, et elle devra le persuader de trouver cet argent en rentrant chez elle. Amèyo, la sage femme jouera le rôle d’intermediaire entre elle et son mari, afin de le persuader de donner cet argent et d’effectuer lui-même un test de depistage VIH. Bien sur, les dépenses de ce couple ne s’arrétent pas la car Samiétou devra également payer une somme conséquente pour accoucher si elle veut le faire à la clinique.

Nous vivons dans un système ou l’accès aux soins est quasiment universel. Dans une majorité de pays d’Afrique quand on a la chance d’avoir un centre de santé ou une clinique pas trop loin de chez soi, il faut encore passer la deuxieme barriere qui est de savoir comment payer. Il y a beaucoup de discussions sur le fait de faire payer les gens pour ds choses comme les moustiquaires ou encore les medicaments soit disant afin de « les responsabiliser, leur faire comprendre que parce qu’ils achetent quelque chose ça a de la valeur. » Pour moi il vaudra toujours mieux être vivant et un peu moins responsable que mort parce qu’on a pas pu se payer le medicament necessaire.

Happy New Year (Hopefully...)

Benoist — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:17:00 +0100

English Version

It has been a long time..I have been travelling a lot, witnessing some many wonderful things and many awfull ones... This time I have chosen the picture of this boy……because I think it's time to see if we really can look into his eyes and pretend that we have done everything we could to make his new year a good one. I won't pretend I did……But I think that it does not have to take investing hours, or millions for any of us to just give some help to make life much simplier for a child. Thousands of children are dying everyday without anyone noticing. The worst is that they could be saved, if only more people cared. So maybe it is about time, for those who have children to look at your children and imagine what you could do for them..for those who don't have children, look at yourself and think about what you could do for this child. Politics, economy, global health...none of these can really change anything...people can. So let's hope that this new year will bring people together, so we can look into the eyes of children and say that we, at least, have tried. I wish you the best for this new year.

French Version

Cela faisait longtemps..J'ai voyagé beaucoup, témoin de nombreuses magnifiques choses, et de certaines horribles... Cette fois j'ai choisi cette photo de ce garçon..car je pense qu'il est temps de voir si l'on peut vraiment regarder cet enfant dans les yeux et se dire que l'on a fait tout ce qui était possible pour que sa nouvelle année soit une bonne nouvelle année. Je ne prédendrais pas que oui pour ma part...Je pense que ça ne demande pas des heures ou des millions pour chacun d'entre nous de donner un peu d'aide pour rendre la vie de cet enfant un peu plus simple. Des milliers d'enfants meurent chaque jour sans que personne ne le remarque. Le pire c'est qu'ils pourraient être sauvés si seulement plus de gens prenaient soin d'eux. Alors il est peut être temps, pour ceux qui ont des enfants, de les regarder dans les yeux et d'imaginer ce que vous pourriez faire pour eux, pour ceux qui n'ont pas d'enfant, regardez vous et pensez à ce que vous pourriez faire pour cet enfant. La politique, l'économie, la santé globale...rien de tout cela ne pourra vraiment changer quelque chose. les gens peuvent. Alors espérons que cette nouvelle année réunira les gens pour que l'on puisse regarder cet enfant dans les yeux et dire que nous, au moins, avons essayé. Je vous souhaite le meilleur pour cette nouvelle année.

May we have some water please ?

Benoist — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:04:00 +0200

ENGLISH (French version at the bottom)

This month I would like to talk to you about my experience in Chad. I visited the East of Chad for 20 days in June. I felt the situation in this region to be dramatic, especially in terms of health. The East of Chad is hosting about 200 000 refugees coming from the region of Darfour. In addition there are about more than 170 000 displaced people living in camps created to support them. Most of these people left running away from attacks on their villages, they have left their houses, they have nothing and have walked many days to get into the camps.

This displacement of people has had a huge impact on the lives of the people displaced but also in the lives of the local people. The camps are usually linked to an existing village, some of these villages have seen the number of people linked to them multiplied by hundreds or more. This places an additional strain on water resources, wood for cooking the food and the local fields for agriculture…

Humanitarian aid is now operating in the region, but it is not enough and can’t solve all the problems. For example trees are a scanty resource and currently humanitarian aid does not focus on this. The scarcity of trees, means less wood, which means, no fire, which means more and more people are unable to cook their food, boil their water and thus have no access to clean water. The World Health Organisation recommends 20 litres of water per person per day as the minimum requirement. For these refugees and displaced people 10 litres per day per person is all that is possible. Non governmental organizations like MSF and OXFAM Great Britain, are also trying to fill the gaps by providing water tanks but the need remains.

The result of this is that people keep going to get water from the rivers, which mainly consist of brown coloured water, filled with germs which are responsible for many diseases, such as diarrhea and hepatitis E . Health workers have seen a dramatic rise of these diseases in the camps. This brings another dynamic, to the question of curing diseases, “How can this be done when the basic elements are not available”. I have visited health centers where patients were taking their drugs drinking them with brown water, even at the health centre.

Access to health centers is also a subject for major concern, nationally. Some of the health centers are in charge of villages situated more than 70kms away, posing a big problem for a sick person with no transport to be expected to make it alive to receive care 70 kms away. One could buy all the drugs, fill the health centers with them…if people don’t have access to them they will carry on dying.

Maybe we should try to think more towards solutions based on basic training for the people living in the communities to be able to have an effective and quick response to some of the basic health problems - which if neglected for too long - can be fatal. The solutions also come with real political will to invest in community based solutions. There is no doubt that the camps are an emergency and require urgent support but this has to happen to while investing in the basics that communities need. This I believe will bring more long lasting solutions.

FRANCAIS

Ce mois-ci j’ai décidé de vous parler de mon expérience au Tchad. Je me suis rendu pendant 20 jours dans l’est du Tchad au mois de Juin. La situation dans cette région, specialement au niveau sanitaire, est dramatique. L’Est du Tchad accueille près de 200 000 réfugiés soudanais ayant fui le Darfour, et maintenant plus de 170 000 personnes déplacées. Ces personnes déplacées sont des tchadiens ayant fui les violences perpétrées dans leur villages. Nombres d’entre eux sont parti sans rien et ont du marcher des jours pour rejoindre des camps de fortunes.

Ces déplacements de populations ont un impact énorme sur la vie des personnes déplacées mais aussi des personnes locales. En effets les camps de déplacés se rattachent très souvent à des villages existant. Certains villages qui ne comptaient que quelques centaines d’habitants ont vu leur nombre multiplié par cent, voire plus. Les ressources en eau, en bois de chauffage pour faire cuire les aliments (et l’eau si elle ne vient pas d’une pompe), les ressources agricoles…

Bien sur l’aide humanitaire dans ces régions est maintenant en place, mais elle ne suffit pas et ne peut régler tous les problèmes. L’aide humanitaire ne fait pas repousser les arbres, et pourtant ceux-ci commence à réellement manquer dans certaines régions. Qui dit pas d’arbre, dit pas de feu. Pas de feu, veut dire impossibilité de faire chauffer les aliments. Qui dit pas de feu dit impossibilité de faire bouillir l’eau…etc..

L’eau, qui est un des éléments fondamentaux de la santé, est une denrée rare. De nombreux forrages ont été éffectués pour répondre à l’urgence mais ce n’est pas encore assez. 10 litres d’eau par kour et par personnes sont distribués, alors que 20 litres seraient le minimum necessaire. Des ONG comme MSF et OXFAM GB tentent de combler le manque en distribuant de l’eau avec des camions citernes mais le manque reste flagrant. Le résultat de ce manque est que les populations continuent de puiser l’eau des rivières. Une eau marron et porteuse de nombreux germes. Dans les camps les cas de diahrrées et d’hépatite E ne se comptent plus. Comment peut-on espérer combattre les maladies si l’accès au éléments vitaux n’est pas possible ou respecté. J’ai visité des centres de santé ou les patients prenaient leur médiacaments en buvant cette eau marron à l’intérieur même du centre de santé. Les centres de santés, l’autre énorme problème de cette région (problème national d’ailleurs). Certains centres de santé regroupent des villages situés a plus de 70km. Comment peut-on espérer qu’une personne malade puisse venir se faire soigner dans un centre de santé situé si loin de son domicile. On pourra mettre tous les médiacaments necessaire pour soigner toutes les maladies du monde dans ce centre de santé…si les gens n’y ont pas accès ils continueront de mourir. Peut être faudrait il entrevoir une solution plus dirigée vers la formation basique de personnes habitant dans les communautés, qui permettrait un suivi des populations et une action plus rapide en cas de probleme.

Pour moi, l’état d’urgence (plus que légitime) ne doit pas faire oublier que les solutions locales au sein des communautés sont souvent les meilleurs fondements pour des actions plus larges et avec une durée de vie plus longue.

Small will become big - Petit deviendra grand

Benoist — Fri, 11 May 2007 15:36:00 +0200

English Version (french version below)

This week I would like to talk to you about my last trip in Liberia. As you must know Liberia has been facing a civil war for about 14 years. The conflict ended in 2003. In 2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been elected president after a democratic election which makes her the first woman president of an African country. Travelling a bit in the country I was shocked to see how beautiful this country must have been before the war. I’m not saying that it’s not a beautiful country now, it is. But you can feel that something was really going on , by the size of the building, the architecture… The all country is now in a reconstruction phase which has taken a rapid turn in the last 2 years. Of course the capital, Monrovia is certainly developping faster than the rest of the country but you can feel that life is taking over everywhere. The other thing is that the country is still under the « protection » and help of the United Nation Peace Keeping force (UNMIL), and many international agencies are still there to help with the reconstruction. It creates quite a very strange feeling on wheter or not the country is completly linked to these agencies in term of development. Would the country be able to face its development goals without them ? I hope so. I think so. And this because a lot of NGOs are busy trying to transfert the capacities to the local people. They try, not to bring a ready made package, but instead they train people in the communities on how to do things. These people would then be able to train other ones.. To give you an example, the NGO I worked with in Liberia, the MENTOR Initiative uses this approach on providing essential disease control and technical and operational support in emergencies and recovering crises. They have been in Liberia since 2003. Since then they have trained more than 3000 people on malaria control, over the all country. They first trained a team of trainers (about 45 people now) who are now going everywhere in the country to train health workers, nurses, doctors on the different tools for fighting malaria. Still working in the country for at least one more year, one day The MENTOR Initiative won’t be working anymore in Liberia, but they know that all the people that they have trained are doing a good job and are ready to take over. This is for me the best way to fight a desease or to help with development in this kind of countries. Work at a community level to be able to scale up to a national level. You need to include the people in the field in your development plans otherwise it will never work.

More pictures on Liberia: www.bcarpentier.com

More information on The MENTOR Initiative: www.thementorinitiative.org

Version Française Cette semaine je voudrais vous parler de mon dernier voyage au Libéria. Comme vous le savez surement le Libéria a été confronté à une guerre civile pendant environ 14 ans. Le conflit s’est terminé en 2003. En 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf a été élue présidente à la suite d’un scrution démocratique ce qui fait d’elle la première femme chef d’état en Afrique. En voyageant un peu dans le pays j’ai été frappé de voir combien se pays devait être beau avant la guerre. Je ne dis pas qu’il ne l’est pas maintenant, il l’est. Mais vous pouvez ressentir que ce pays avait quelque chose, par la grandeur de ses batiments, son architecture… Tout le pays est en phase de reconstruction, qui c’est accéléré ces 2 dernières années. Bien sur, la capitale Monrovia se developpe certainement plus rapidement que le reste du pays, mais on sent que la vie reprends ses droits un peu partout. L’autre particularité de ce pays est qu’il est toujours sous la « protection » des forces de maintien de la pays des Nations Unis (UNMIL), et de nombreuses organisations internationales sont toujours dans le pays pour aider a la reconstruction et au developpement. Cela crée un sentiment assez étrange sur le fait de savoir si le pays est completement lié à ces organisations en terme de developpement. Est-ce que le pays pourra faire face à ses objectifs de développement quand ces organisations auront quitté le pays ? J’éspère que oui. Je pense que oui. Et cela car de nombreuses ONG, locales et internationales travaillent à transférer les savoirs aux gens du pays. Ils essayent de ne pas apporter un « packet » tout prêt, mais plutôt de former les gens dans les communautés sur comment faire les choses. Ces personnes seront ensuite capables de former d’autres personnes. Pour vous donner un exemple, l’ONG laquelle j’ai travaillé au Libéria, The MENTOR Initiative, utilise cette approche. Ils sont présent au Libéria depuis 2003. Depuis cette date ils ont formé plus de 3000 personnes sur les différents moyen de contrôle du paludisme, dans tout le pays. Ils ont d’abord formé une équipe (environ 45 personnes maintenant) qui devint rapidement l’équipe de formateurs. Ils se déplacent partout dans le pays pour former les personnels de santé, infirmières, docteurs sur les différents outils pour lutter contre le paludisme. Encore dans le pays pour au moins un an, un jour The MENTOR Initiative ne travaillera plus au Libéria (sa vocation première étant de travailler dans les zones de crise), mais ils savent que toutes les personnes formés font du bon travail et son autonomes. Ceci est pour moi la meilleure façon de lutter contre les maladies et d’aider au développment dans ce genre de pays. Travailler au niveau des communautés pour ensuite étendre son action au niveau national. Il faut inclure les gens sur le terrain, dans les communautés dans tout plan de développment sionon cela ne marchera jamais.

Plus de photos sur le Libéria: www.bcarpentier.com

Plus d'informations sur The MENTOR Initiative: www.thementorinitiative.org

Faites votre choix - Make your choice

Benoist — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:54:00 +0100

English version after the french version

551.003.880 CFA soit 840.000 Euros.

C'est la somme que l'Etat français via son service de coopération à dépensé pour aider à financer la construction d'une "Académie des Arts Martiaux" à Niamey au Niger et cela pour, soi disant, les besoins des jeux de la Francophonie. Chouette, doivent se dire les nigériens, maintenant on peut mourrir de faim mais au moins on peut faire du karaté.

Pourquoi? Pourquoi de tel agissement sont encore possible? Comment peut on laisser le gouvernement français dépenser l'argent public de la sorte. Le Niger est le pays le plus pauvre du monde, l'espérance de vie est l'une des plus faible du monde, des enfants meurent par milliers tous les jours faute d'accès aux soins à l'eau ou à de la nourriture. Et qu'est ce que le gouvernement français trouve de mieux à faire? Dépenser 840.000 euros dans la construction d'une "Académie des Arts Martiaux", qui depuis ces Jeux de la Francophonie n'a quasiment jamais été utilisée et n'est pas accessible au public.

Petit rappel de ce que représente 840.000 euros:

276.614 moustiquaires imprégnées.

1.005.869 doses de traitements antipaludéen à base d'artémésinine

110.645 traitements de 6 mois contre la tuberculose

79.039 années de préservatifs (moyenne des pays en voie de developpement)

2.235 microscopes

35.000 kgs de viande

700.000 kgs de pommes

...

Alors pourquoi? Pourquoi ne pas avoir utilisé des structures existantes pour le déroulement de ces jeux, et utiliser cet argent à des fins plus utiles. La colonisation n'est pas morte. Ce genre de comportement, lache et irresponsable demontre bien la non volonté des états du Nord quand à la résolution des problèmes africains. Plus un pays est pauvre, plus il est facile à controler.

L'année dernière j'ai visité un service de l'hôpital principal de Niamey, le service ou l'on traite les cas de malnutrition, de paludisme sevère ainsi que les enfants prématurés. La photo de cette semaine à été prise dans ce service. Pas de climatisation (au mois de mai la température moyenne de Niamey est de 45° C à l'ombre), des chambres surpeuplées, une hygiène inexistante comme le matériel (pas de couveuse pour les prématurés, la seule qu'ils avait est en panne et non réparée faute de moyens, pas de moustiquaires...) c'est ça l'hôpital pour les enfants au Niger, mais maintenant au moins si ils survivent assez longtemps il pourront peut être aller faire du karaté à "L'académie des Arts Martiaux" si gracieusement financée par la France.

Le choix est pourtant simple, sauver des milliers de vies ou permettrent à 10 personnes de faire du karaté ou du judo pendant 1 semaine.

Comble de l'ignorance le sport roi au Niger est la lutte traditionnelle. Elle se déroule en extérieur et dans le sable.

...consternant.

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ENGLISH VERSION

551.003.880 CFA or 840.000 Euros

That is the amount of money the French government through its Coopération Department spent to help finance the building of a « Martial Arts Academy » in Niamey, Niger. This building was apparently for the Francophone games organized in Niger, December 2006. “Great!” The people of Niger must have thought. “We can die of hunger but at least we can play some karate before”. Why? Why such actions are still possible? How can we let the French government spend public money like this? Niger is the poorest country in the world. Life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world and thousands of children are dying because they don’t have any access to health care, to water or to food. And instead what does the French government decide to do? Spend 840.000 euros to build a « Martial Arts Academy » which, since the games has almost never been used and is not accessible to the public.

Just a little reminder of what represents 840.000 euros:

256.614 long lasting treated bed nets.

1.005.869 ACT doses against malaria

110.645 6 month treatments against tuberculosis

79.039 years of condom (in average across developing countries)

336 incubators (when you know that even the national hospital doesn’t have one)

2.235 microscopes

35.000 kgs of meat

700.000 kgs of apples

...

The list could be endless….

Why did they not use existing buildings and structures for these gamesand use the money for a more useful end. Colonisation is not dead. This kind of irresponsible behaviour shows the non willingness of the Northern countries when it comes to investing in things that could help support African countries.

Last year, I visited some parts of Niamey’s National Hospital including where they are taking care of malnutrition problems, malaria cases and premature babies. The photo of this week was taken in one of these rooms. The rooms had no bed-nets, no air conditioning (in May the average temperature in Niamey is 45° C in the shade), they were over-crowed, unhygienic and lacked the necessary equipment. For instance there were no incubators for premature babies, except for 1 malfunctioning one which could not be fixed due to lack of funds. (a new incubator costs 2500 euros). That’s what is a hospital for the children of Niger, but at least now, those who will survive know that they will be able to do karate in the « Martial Arts Academy » financed by the French public.

The choice is simple, save thousands of lives or allow 10 people to play Karate or Judo for a week…my choice is done

On top of that a simple matter was missed, the national sport in Niger is the traditional fight, which takes place outside and in the sand…

Concerning…

New year...

Benoist — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:10:00 +0100

First of all I would like to send you all my best wishes for this new year. I am starting this year with these two pictures because they represent what a new year is for most of us. For the youngest, it’s one year closer from being an adult, for the oldest, one more year taken from their youth. But in both cases each year brings progress, learning and evolution. We never know in advance what a new year is going to be made of...and that's what makes it so exiting, because finally we are all always hoping for the best to happen... We have this chance. The chance of not knowing, of having 50% chance to spend a fantastic year, suddenly forgetting that the year that just ended may have been very good. But this chance, not everybody has it... Some people know exactly what a new year starting is going to look like. Most people wonder what is going to happen. For the majority, the expectation is for them and their families to reach the end alive. Everybody should have the same chances in life, but unfortunately, and for many reasons it's not the case.

Often small acts lead to major changes. Maybe it would be good to start this new year giving more thought to the less privileged and working towards achieving a better balance.

Linked...

Benoist — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:29:00 +0200

This week, i've chosen a picture taken in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso is one of the enclaved country of West Africa. People from Burkina don't have any access to the ocean, which means of course that they are very dependant on the road and train traffic coming from the countries that have access to the sea. The train on the picture does the trip between Abidjan (Capital of Ivory Coast) to Ouagadougou (capital of Burkina Faso). 1200 kms from the coast of Ivory coast to Ouagadougou in approximativly 27 hours... The train is the only one linking these to country and one of the only one in all of the subregion. During the crisis in Ivory Coast the train line has been closed. This has been an economical catastrophy for many people, from the ones selling fruits and food through the windows at each stops which was representing a real economy and a leaving business for thousands of familly along the railway, to the people that are running a business in Burkina needing to get what they shipped through the port of Abidjan. Even the people from Niger suffered from this closing as the ones leaving not far from the border were also benefiting from the railway. Before the crisis the port of Abidjan was the central point for all the equipment, merchandises and food coming from overseas. With the crisis, and almost all the roads closed, this traffic went dramatically down forcing the people to find another place to ship their goods.. Cotonou (Benin), and Accra (Ghana) became the new places for the boat traffic, but there is no railway from Brukina Faso to these two towns..and for Accra, people have even now to deal their business in English! On top of that, since the railway company has been bought by the french company Bolloré the prices of the tickets went dramatically up. Luckily the traffic is back on the line between Abidjan and Ouagadougou, but it seems to stop everytime the tension is going up and the activity that was going on along the railway is far from being back... That really shows how linked and interdependant these countries are and how important that they stay politicaly stable, otherwise it's not only the country itself that suffers but the whole region.

Dignity

Benoist — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:45:00 +0200

This week i wanted to show the new houses built by the governement of South Africa for people who can't afford to buy one at a normal price. Many of the houses that have been built are what are popularly known as "RDP houses." In 1994 the African National Congress adopted the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), an integrated socio-economic policy framework which is now the policy if the government. The RDP set a goal of 300,000 houses to be built a year with a minimum of one million low-cost houses to be constructed within five years.

The Housing Act, “housing development” is defined as:

1 “… the establishment and maintenance of habitable, stable and sustainable public and private residential environments to ensure viable households and communities in areas allowing convenient access to economic opportunities, and to health, educational and social amenities in which all citizens and permanent residents of the Republic will, on a progressive basis, have access to:

(a) permanent residential structures with secure tenure, ensuring internal and external privacy and providing adequate protection against the elements; and

(b) potable water, adequate sanitary facilities and domestic energy supply.”

Criticisms of the housing being built includes quality, size (many are very small) and location (numerous identical houses in areas with no social or economic infrastructure). Some RDP houses are so small and badly built that people joke that they are "so small you need to go outside to change your mind."

The view of these houses, all lined up is very impressive. People critisize the size, the quality or the fact that they come with a very small land which won't allow the owners to extend their house. But if we look in Europe, what did we do? We parked the people in big buildings which are for most of them in a very bad state... What i think of this program is that it brings dignity to these families...the dignity to own a house and a land.

Back from the AIDS Conference

Benoist — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 17:57:00 +0200

I have just came back from the AIDS Conference in Toronto. This week has been amazing and very educational. I will present some of the people i met in next week's blog. But this week i would like to focus on an experience that happened to me on my way back from Toronto and that must have happened to many of the delegations and communities that came to Toronto. Air Canada has been comunicating on the last month on the fact that they were key partners and supportive of the AIDS conference. I was checking in the presentation boards from the exhibitions of the AIDS conference that i was kindly bringing back to Geneva on behalf of another orgznisation in addition to my own luggage. Air Canada made me pay USD 350 as each passeneger was not allowed more than two pieces regardless of weight, which was 3/4 kgs each. Many people who came from their countries to present on their work in their communities would be faced witht the same challenge as they return their exhibitions.

All week i have been hearing about the lack of political will and the lack of commitment. Air Canada was very pleased to annonced their so called "support" to the AIDS conference. These two boards were brought to the Roll Back Malaria booth to educate and to do advocacy on the impact of malaria on people living with HIV/AIDS. Maybe not a big deal, Roll Back Malaria should be able to afford this extra cost. But what about all these delegations and communities that surely don't have the same financial power. What about the idea that this 350 USD represents more than 200 hundred treatments that could cure malaria and save lives. More than 200 children could have been saved with this 350 USD. So i am kind of wondering what kind of support and partnership companies like Air Canada are developing. They should feel ashamed and stop pretending to support causes that they don't care about.

It works...

Benoist — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:50:00 +0200

This week i would like to introduce you the family of Anaha Makmoud. She is the mother of 3 children: Fatouma, the youngest, Abdulaï, the middle one and Fatouma the older girl. She is here at the Integrated Health Center of Yantala in Niamey (Niger). She came to pick up the long lasting treated bed nets distributed for free in the country. She vaccinated her two kids under five against polio and then got two vouchers to get free bed nets. This was in March 2006. The rainy season has started by now in Niger, bringing with her the mosquitos and malaria. With these bed nets provided by the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria and the Canadian Red Cross, the family of Anaha is protected against mosquitoes bites during the night. Over 2 millions bed nets were distributed during this campaign reaching 86 percent of households with young children.

Hope

Benoist — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:33:00 +0200

This week i would like to introduce you the Sergent Hamani Djibo. He retired from the army and now lives in a little village called Zindarou, 70 kms away from Niamey in Niger. Since his retirement Hamani has been helping people by providing local health care in his village. Every month, Hamani goes to Niamey, 70 kms away by road most of it in very poor condition to get what he calls "his little pension" - money from the state for his retirement. With this money Hamani buys various medical products such as malaria treatment, pain killers or antibiotics to bring back to his village. Most of the people in his village are too poor to pay for his help so they pay him with fruits and vegetables that they grow. Hamani is also providing free basic health care to all the village school children. He now has a little office where people come to get their medical help. The closest health center is 15 kms away, which is very far when you are walking. With his kindness and his devotion, Hamani touched me and gave me hope. Hope that with people like him all over the world, things could get better.

You can answer, participate to the blog by posting a comment. If you have example of people or organisations that are doing great things for other, please write down their story.