The end of a long hot day here so just a few words on the day’s work. I spent the day with engineers working for the aid group Pan American Development Agency, which is conducting some large-scale assessment and repair efforts for homes damaged by the January earthquake in Port au Prince. It’s fascinating to see them work, quickly judging which homes are safe, and which unsafe, by checking over the cracks that appear in the walls of the homes. Th
ey know it like the back of their hand, which cracks – vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or anywhere in between – spell trouble, and which can be dabbed over with concrete and left as they are. Thus far they have checked over 248,000 homes, and found about 49% of them to be structurally damaged in some way. That’s not to say they are dangerous or uninhabitable, but they need some work to make them safer.
This will be a long, long process. Across Port au Prince there are hundreds of thousands of people still living in tents or in damaged homes, and the pace of rebuilding or repairing on such a scale for all involved is painstakingly slow. Despite a hot, sunny day, rain clouds gathering tonight hint at the dangers of the hurricane season, making those without adequate shelter even more vulnerable.
August 31st, 2010 | by David in Travel
A quick trip down to Tanzania after just getting back from the Middle East last week. Came to see some work AmeriCares is doing with a large hospital in Mwanza – a place called the Bugando Medical Center. Their work revolves around making contributions of medicines and medical supplies to hospitals and clinics in developing countries. At Bugando that includes the latest antibiotics, which proved critical in fighting several cases of drug resistant bacteria they had at the facility’s pediatric ICU. In that case, the drugs literally saved lives. The doctor said they started several infants on the drug the day it arrived two weeks ago, and it helped immediately. I also visited with several young kids with heart problems who are taking medicine provided by AmeriCares as well. With most major heart problems here, the only permanent solution is surgery. Unfortunately, there are very few hospitals in Tanzania that can perform such surgeries, so the only solution is for those kids to be wait listed to be sent abroad for their operations – places like India and Israel. But the wait can be long – last year, of 100 kids at Bugando wait listed for surgery abroad, only 7 went. For the others, it’s only heart medication that keeps them alive until that call comes, a long wait for a mother.
Every time you visit a hospital in Africa you are reminded of just how lucky you are to have your health. People routinely die here 
from things we don’t even see in the US anymore – basic infections, easily curable cancers, even polio. It’s nice to see some of what we have making it to places like Bugando where it’s being used, and much appreciated.
August 7th, 2010 | by David in Travel
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