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November 2009:
The Operating theatre being upgraded. The theatre was back in use week after we took this photo. Bunmi, the hospital director is in the doorway.
The hospital kitchen for the leprosy patients. Other patients supply there own food. There is a small market most days by the hospital entrance. The Butcher comes round with meat on the back of his bike, wrapped in brown paper.
The Laboratory at Danja
We will be flying to Niger on 3rd December to spend nearly 5 weeks at CSL Danja, near Maradi in the South of Niger. James will up date and add to the web site. and Elisabeth will assist in the Leprosy Control section and rehabilitation of former patients On entering the hospital on the web site http://danja-hospital.org go to RIBA to see the many projects the mission is involved with. We are members of the Mission Lépre France Council. Elisabeth worked as an Occupational Therapist in India and Indonesia. The health centre/leprosy hospital in Danja is different from the hospitals where she previously worked as smaller in size with fewer specialised staff and a busy general health centre. Sine we were there in February the leprosy mission provided the funds for building a 10 bedded eye clinic. Building is about to start on the Danja Fistual Project which provide medical care for many women. The centre is owned by SIM, Serving in Mission. The Leprosy mission has 3 staff and provides grants, e.g. the 80 metre deep well was part funded by the Leprosy Mission. At the end of our stay we plan to join with the SIM partners in their annual conference in Niamey.
It looks as though we can take a commercial flight from Niamey to Maradi, rather than spending 11 or 12 hours on a roughish dusty road. We look forward to seeing again the friends we made on our visit earlier this year.
Télé-secrétariat 33 rue Arthur Rimbaud 26800 Portes-les-Valences
tél 08 75 89 31 14 mission.lepre@wandoo.fr
Association Loi 1901 Reconnue d’Utilité Publique C.C.P. No 21.152.09W Paris
It is just after a month since we were felt dried out, inside and out!
I spent most mornings in the hospital. The day started at 7h30 with prayers. Ward rounds were similar to those the world over, ready to sit down by the end, and unable to read ones notes of the things one should follow up! What did I do? Assessed patients to see the level of involvement in their nerves, and gave advice on how to care for anesthetic limbs I met a tall distinguished woman there for her 13th monthly visit, her final visit and check up. She had taking multi drug therapy for 12 months. Now released from treatment. No deformity, no muscle weakness. From the little I could pick up she seemed well accepted by her family, and expecting her 2nd child.
Many of the in-patients were cured patients, but unfortunately they had bad deformity because of anesthesia, and related injuries. I was annoyed by a stone in my sandal. I took it off shook it out;, replaced it, started to walk still something there, sharp and painful. Stopped again and checked my sock. Couldn’t find anything; put on my sandal, again the pain; this time when I took my sandal off I ran my hand over the inner sole; and found the cause the tip of a thorn, which had pierced the sole. If I had had no feeling I would have injured my foot, then an ulcer, perhaps bone infection, perhaps permanent damage to the foot. This is the daily problem when nerves are damaged.
Many years ago the idea was health education by staff, now the focus is on self help groups, patients teach each other, how to keep their skin in good condition, and free from ulcers. Using well good fitting shoes. This is very hard, unfortunately there are many who need treatment for ulcers
Patients, general and leprosy come from far and wide. Some groups camping in the grounds while completing treatment, some were waiting to see the eye specialist who was arriving the week after we left. This family came from a further north. We kept our heads well covered because of the dry sandy atmosphere.
I also treated those with general problems for example; I made a cushion out of a couple of inner bicycle tubes for a young man who had paraplegic following as accident. Sadly there are quiet a few children who have had burns and to prevent contractures we needed to encourage them to straighten the effected limbs, and teach the family how to do this.
I worked with Helen Nixon an OT from Australia, Bube a former leprosy patient, who has an enormous wealth of knowledge of previous patients. Adamu is a young nurse who left for Mali the week after I arrived for further training in Leprosy.
There is a 5 year up grading plan: new buildings, and others being renovated. To find out more visit the web site.
The site includes links to TLM international and SIM, the address for Donations for Mission Lépre in France is 33 rue Arthur Rimbaud, 26800 Portes-les-Valences tél 08 75 89 31 14
The aim of the Leprosy Mission is Eradiquer les causes et les conséquences de la lèpre
Association Loi 1901, Reconnue d’Utilité Publique, C.C.P. No 21.152.09W Paris
Elisabeth Barnett,
CLS Danja, le Centre de Santé et de Leprologie is near Maradi, about 30 kilometers from the Nigerian border and 600 kilometers, a 9 or 10 hour drive, East of Niamey.
In the 4 weeks, James produced a web site for the hospital to keep people informed and for raising funds via SIM Serving in Mission and TLM, the Leprosy Mission. Together we visited the fascinating RIBA projects to help those affected by leprosy to reintegrate in to society see site http://danja-hospital.org/Index.html
Mission.lepre@wanadoo.fr donations for CSL Danja, Niger
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We are hoping to visit Danja again in December to add and improve the web site.