2007
1/21
'Vive La Rotary'
-Rotary chant constantly sung by Nigerian rotarians
There are things about Rotary that turn me off; the pins, the flag salute, the mystery meat with sauce served every week for lunch, but they all take a backseat to the fact that I am headed to Nigeria with a group of 20 Rotarian volunteers who have traded in a plush vacation for a nine day journey to one of the most corrupt and unstable countries in the world, in an effort to eradicate polio...
But before our band of misfits set foot on the dark continent, we stopped in Amsterdam, Europe’s city of sin…
My goal was to get at least one of my fellow Rotarians to carpe diem and join me in patronizing one of Amsterdam’s ‘coffee bars’, for an espresso and a joint.
Unfortunately no one was up for the experience so I tossed off my backpack and headed out alone in search of the perfect ‘coffee bar’. I walked up and down the cobble stone streets, along the canals, venturing into museums, churches and cafes before re-joining my fellow Rotarians for dinner at a quaint bistro. After dinner, the Rotarians headed to the red light district and I continued my journey through the city. I could have walked all night. There is something magical about walking in Amsterdam at night to the sounds of solo musicians playing saxophone or violin on the sidewalk...
1/23
"Polio is facing the maelstrom of death. We are going to cement polio into the deep, dark ground. Polio is going to be banished forever and ever."
-David, District Governor speaking about polio eradication
Our group arrived in Lagos. We are spending the night together before splitting into 4 small groups, each journeying to a different state in Nigeria. Each teams main job is to monitor and assist the newly revamped Immunization Plus Days (IPD), lasting from Thursday through Sunday from 8am-12pm all throughout the country.
During my last visit in 2005, IPD's were called National Immunization Days (NID) but in 2006, the Polio Plus Committee changed the name and strategy because many Nigerian families still were not immunizing their children. IPDs come with incentives to polio immunizations such as measles and DPT vaccinations, bed-nets, de-worming tablets, and Vitamin A. Since initiated, Immunization Plus Days have substantially reduced the proportion of unvaccinated children in Nigeria, especially in Kano, which is responsible for the majority of polio cases in the world.
Lagos is a dump. It’s the largest city in Nigeria, and arguably the most populous city in all of Africa. This was quite a way to introduce Nigeria to the Rotarians who hadn’t been to Africa before, but everyone seemed OK. I am very anxious to get out of Lagos and head to Kano. Its funny because everyone in Lagos thinks Kano is dangerous, backwards, and disgusting, but I would take Kano any day over Lagos. It may be religiously unstable but I can leave my hotel without worrying someone is going to mug me at gun point. That being said, I am not looking forward to the flight. .
1/24
"Wow, I can see why the rest of the country is pissed." -Steve Wallace, US Rotarian volunteer seeing Abuja for the first time.
Our team of 6 flew from Lagos to Abuja for the afternoon to join Carl Stenhammar, former Rotary International President 2005-06, to participate in the official Nigerian kick off to the Immunization Plus Days.
Abuja is the capital of Nigeria. In 1976, the government decided to relocate the capital from Lagos because of overpopulation, crime and pollution. Located near the center of the country, in 1991 Abuja became the second 'planned capital city' in the world, after Brazil's, Brasilia. Abuja is beautiful. Its hard to believe that its in the same country as the rest of Nigeria. Its beauty, in comparison with the rest of the country has caused quite a stir.
Shortly after the Capital was made official in 1991, General Sani Acaba, considered by some as the 'Che' of Nigeria, orchestrated a million man march, made up of Niger Delta oil workers and rebellious youths from the south. At the sight of seeing what their underpaid labours had funded, while they continue to suffer in unlivable conditions, they began an uprising laced with violence, kidnappings, and explosions in protest.
Next we attended a meeting with Carl Stenhammer, the Minister of Health of Nigeria, the District Governor of Abuja, and various 'important and prestigious guests'. It was the typical Nigerian meeting; 99% pomp and circumstance, 1% content. It began about half hour late, which is on time in Nigeria. Followed by an hour of introductions, prayers, and thank yous. Then each of the 'important and prestigious guests' gave a speech thanking everyone while recognizing their own accomplishments in the fight against polio.
Nigerian politicians are so dramatic. They use phrases like 'polio is facing the maelstrom of death', 'cement polio into the deep dark ground', 'bury polio for ever and ever'. I could never be a diplomat. Every 'important and prestigious guest' cited the amazing progress and put a positive spin on polio eradication in Nigeria. But the real fact is that if Nigeria doesn’t step up to the plate and make REAL progress quickly, WHO has threatened to quarantine the entire country, which will utterly destroy Nigeria's economy. But of course, that tiny bit of information was never once mentioned in the meeting.
After an afternoon of meetings, interviews, photographs, and a quick stop at 'Southern Fried Chicken', Nigeria's version of KFC, we boarded another plane for Kano.
At the Kano airport we were enthusiastically welcomed by all of our old friends. It felt great to be back.
1/25
"Lets run polio to Lagos and the ocean, out of Nigeria forever!"
"Lets kick it into the desert!"
"No, we cant kick it into the desert because then it can come back!"
"Oh yeah, lets kick it into the ocean!"
"Heep Heep Hooray"
"Heep Heep Hooray"
-Conversation during a speech about polio
Kano has changed a bit since the last time I was there. Most little girls now wear head coverings, a symbol of their Islamic faith, usually reserved for women. I asked about it and was told that this trend is more about being against the west than being aligned with Islam.
Our first stop of the day was visiting a fixed post facility with Carl Stenhammar and a slew of 'important and prestigous' guests, all pushing and shoving to have their photograph taken with Carl.
Overall, the fixed post was a vast improvement from my last visit. It was very organized. In addition to polio vaccinations, the polio workers were giving out soap, Vaseline, paracetomal, hepatitis shots, and vitamins. Women and children were lined up out the door.
'Heep Heep Hooray" (as the Nigerian Rotarians say;)
Our next stop was the Emir's Palace, to visit with religious leader for the state of Kano. On my last visit, I tried to walk into the Palace but the guards wouldn’t let me through the gates. HA! He sat in his thrown, with his bunny ears, aviator glasses, and slippers ,welcoming us to Kano and declaring his support of polio.
Our last stop was the WHO briefing, held every day of the 4 day IPD. The briefing was attending by at least 50 people. Mostly paid Polio workers, supervisors, senior supervisors, and Rotarian monitors, as well as Carl Stenhammar and our team. Each of the supervisors gave their vaccination numbers for the day as well as number of rejections. Again, it was very well organized and productive. Its almost unbelievable, the amount of progress that has been made since our last visit!
1/26
"African men are like headless chickens; they run around all day without knowing what to do, unable to get anything done." -Anonymous female Nigerian Rotarian
Carl Stenhammar is gone. No Carl, No plan. No Carl, No organization. No Carl, No Plus to Polio Plus.
Apparently, the Polio Plus Committee neglected to plan for the remaining 3 days of the IPD's once Carl left. We spent the first 2 hours of the morning figuring out what to do and where to go.
The group we monitored had no town crier, no publicity, no posters, and none of the 'pluses'; measles, hepatitis, vitamins, etc… And by 9am, not one person had come to the fixed post.
After a few hours of monitoring the workers, we broke away to commission the 8 water wells Rotary clubs of our district had funded last year.
Of the 8 wells, 1 collapsed during the ceremony, 2 were on the verge of collapse, and 2 were in locations that already had water.
A few of us were so frustrated we decided to head back to the hotel for a break. We ended up driving through town at the very worst possible time during a Friday afternoon; during the march to mosque. Suddenly, our cars was enveloped in thousands of Muslims, storming to the sounds of the call to prayer. We could barely move an inch at a time. And with every movement, an angry Muslim would scour and act as if we were trying to hit him with the car. It was an incredibly uncomfortable and intense 30 minutes.
The debriefing was a joke. Only half of the amount of people were in attendance compared to yesterday and the numbers were completely inflated.
GADAR
Well, it looks like the alternative education program for the prositutes of Gadar is dead in the water. According to the Nigerian rotarians, the amount of pay offs involved in the project will equal the entire budget of the project... And once the local government, ward heads, and head pimp of the village are paid off, they will probably still shut down whatever project we begin. Plus, I really dont think the Nigerian rotarians are passionate about it. Its hard enough getting projects done they care about, let alone something they really arent that interested in.
1/27
"I am your senior Rotarian, you must do as I say."
-Anonymous Male Nigerian Rotarian
Steve and I monitored a different team today. I was hoping that yesterday was a fluke but again there was no town crier, posters, or publicity of any sort announcing the IPD, and the polio workers had nothing but polio vaccinations to offer.
The workers don't seem to know what their doing or take any pride in getting it done properly. And why would they, when they are only being paid the equivalent of $1.50 per day, and often having to give a portion of that back to the person who got them the job.
House after house was marked incorrectly. Apparently, the female workers are being intimidated by the Muslim male heads of the household. The men simply tell them what to mark and the females willing oblige because that is what they are brought up to do. At one home we found a new case of polio, a little boy, in a house that was marked 'no children'.
The kids followed our team in droves. Steve taught them all to sing 'No More Polio' as I accompanied the female workers inside every house to vaccinate children. As the day progressed, so did the amount of children chanting down the street. The kids were so full of life, their energy carried me through the day.
The attendance at the debriefing was even smaller than yesterday, and the numbers were even more inflated. If the numbers being given were true, every child under 5 was being immunized every day. Its simply impossible.
The most frustrating part of this experience so far is that the people aren’t ignorant in regards to what they should be doing, because everyone was doing it when Carl Stenhammar was here to observe, they are just choosing not to do the work. Its insulting and frustrating that the polio eradication effort in Kano is inundated with incompetence, corruption, and indifference. But as my good friend Bruce Howard says "So What". This is where the polio is, and this is where we are needed most.
"heep heep hooray" arg.
1/28
"Hello children, come out of your houses so we can give you an injection."
-translated from Hausa, the calling our rickety old town crier would give to alert children we were coming.
Umar (Rotarian from Kano), Seni (Rotarian from Lagos), and I went to Kwacheri; a commercial area in Fagge district that we've been told is polio free.
This was the worst slum I've ever seen. The kids were barely clothed and playing in open sewers. Trash not only lined the streets, but was flying through the city with every gust of wind. We joined 2 teams of house to house volunteers. It was fairly easy to follow both teams at the slow pace they would enter each house. I would dart back and forth from one side of the road to the other, shouting out to Umar and Seni, the findings in each compound. The majority of the houses I entered were mismarked. I would walk into a house marked 'No Children' to find 20 kids. And mothers were constantly rejecting the immunizations.
We found a new case of polio. She was about 3 years old. Even without use of her legs she was ear to ear smiles. Even though she was holding a living breathing example of what polio is capable of, the mother refused to immunize the rest of her children. She showed us her daughter's immunization card, which stated the girl had been immunized for polio… but only one of the four vaccinations needed was administered. She said the woman who immunized her child never said anything about needing four vaccinations. I played with the little girl for a few minutes and gave her a lollipop.. A stupid lollipop, but I didn’t know what else to do.. Later, we were walking back up the street and I looked into their compound to see the little girl with polio sitting alone in the blistering sun, still sucking on her lollipop, while the rest of her brothers, sisters, and mother sat on the opposite side of the room, in the shade. What is wrong with people?
At the end of the 4 hour day we counted 35 vaccinations, 15 rejections, and 1 new case of polio.
At the debriefing meeting, the supervisor said 4893 kids were immunized in Kwaciri Fagge. Which means the 3 other teams we didn’t observe were responsible for vaccinating 4858 children. And there were no rejections. Shockingly, he did admit that a new case of polio was found. I asked how these numbers were possible considering we only vaccinated 35 kids and received 15 rejections. But he proudly stood by his numbers.