It has been two years since I visited a developing country, or anywhere that wasn't a big city, so I was really excited for the opportunity to go to Senegal. The first thing that struck me was how quickly it seemed we landed. When flying into New York or San Francisco, the city looms beneath you as soon as you transcend the clouds, and even though the plan is moving at hundreds of kilometers per hour, I feel as though we move in slow motion towards it. First the neighborhoods become larger, then you can make out the windows, and finally the black specks become cars, and then there is a brief expanse of flat, open land as you zoom into the runway. In Senegal, the buildings are not large, so by the time I saw the painted, yellow structures and the red dirt roads, it only took a minute for so for the plane to hit the runway. Dakar's airport probably has only one or two runways. It has one baggage carousel, and we descended the plane by staircase instead of walking to the gates. People had always told me Dakar was a big city, but I guess they meant big for an African city. While it's quite large compared to Arusha, it's small compared to Quito, tiny when compared to Taipei, and miniscule when compared to New York City.
It's not too hot when I stepped off the plane, but it was muggy. Within a few minutes, I noticed the dryness in my mouth, the feeling of dirt on my tongue. As in Arusha, Dakar has a lot of fine, powdery, tan colored dirt. Even while walking on the concrete I develop a very natural looking tan. Our hotel, which costs about 70 dollars per night, is clean but run down--it is comparable to the $5 hostels that I stayed in while I was in Ecuador. I was warned that Dakar can be a very expensive city for travellers--luckily I am here for work, otherwise I definitely could not afford to stay for so long.
I am visiting Senegal for 5 weeks in order to work on health and human rights issues. Thus, the bulk of my time will be spent touring hospitals and clinics, speaking with doctors, patients and family members, and doing research on regulation of medicine. As a result, I'll probably see a side of Senegal that most foreigners do not see...and hopefully won't catch anything in the process. I'm recovering from pneumonia so my immune system is not at its best state.
Our project focuses on palliative care, which is care for non-curable diseases. Much of palliative care centers on pain management. People in the last stages of cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other life limiting diseases such as sickle cell anemia and diabetes, develop excruciating pain which can only be managed with opiates. Unfortunately, the developing world consumes only 6% of the world's supply of morphine. Many African countries have no resources for palliative care at all. It's especially saddening for children--in developed countries, about 80% of childhood cancers are cured, while in Africa, that number is only 3-5%. The work that we are doing here will hopefully help prompt development of national palliative care strategies in West Africa.
Today, we met with a urologist who is very knowledgeable about cancer and palliative care. He was kind of enough to drive us around the city and show us the major hospitals and clinics, and even took us out to lunch. I'm so excited for my project, but also completely exhausted right now. The flight I took to get here was an overnight flight, and there was a lot of turbulence, aggravated by the noisy presence of 4 children who incessently screamed messages to each other from across their rows. I'll try my best to stay up until 9 pm tonight, so I can get scheduled to Senegalese time.
It's not too hot when I stepped off the plane, but it was muggy. Within a few minutes, I noticed the dryness in my mouth, the feeling of dirt on my tongue. As in Arusha, Dakar has a lot of fine, powdery, tan colored dirt. Even while walking on the concrete I develop a very natural looking tan. Our hotel, which costs about 70 dollars per night, is clean but run down--it is comparable to the $5 hostels that I stayed in while I was in Ecuador. I was warned that Dakar can be a very expensive city for travellers--luckily I am here for work, otherwise I definitely could not afford to stay for so long.
I am visiting Senegal for 5 weeks in order to work on health and human rights issues. Thus, the bulk of my time will be spent touring hospitals and clinics, speaking with doctors, patients and family members, and doing research on regulation of medicine. As a result, I'll probably see a side of Senegal that most foreigners do not see...and hopefully won't catch anything in the process. I'm recovering from pneumonia so my immune system is not at its best state.
Our project focuses on palliative care, which is care for non-curable diseases. Much of palliative care centers on pain management. People in the last stages of cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other life limiting diseases such as sickle cell anemia and diabetes, develop excruciating pain which can only be managed with opiates. Unfortunately, the developing world consumes only 6% of the world's supply of morphine. Many African countries have no resources for palliative care at all. It's especially saddening for children--in developed countries, about 80% of childhood cancers are cured, while in Africa, that number is only 3-5%. The work that we are doing here will hopefully help prompt development of national palliative care strategies in West Africa.
Today, we met with a urologist who is very knowledgeable about cancer and palliative care. He was kind of enough to drive us around the city and show us the major hospitals and clinics, and even took us out to lunch. I'm so excited for my project, but also completely exhausted right now. The flight I took to get here was an overnight flight, and there was a lot of turbulence, aggravated by the noisy presence of 4 children who incessently screamed messages to each other from across their rows. I'll try my best to stay up until 9 pm tonight, so I can get scheduled to Senegalese time.
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