Mosquito Nets for the Talibé

I’ve wanted to post this story since it happened last Wednesday, but time and energy wouldn’t permit.

We had a double team in, as I posted last. The sixteen Belgians held a talibé sports day Saturday a week ago. The ten Americans from Hudson, Ohio, got here Sunday, delayed one day when South Africa Air had to cancel their original flight. Monday and Wednesday we worked around the Phare on various jobs, painting and repairing stone sidewalks and hauling rubble. Tuesday they were out to Gorée Island and later to the Artisans’ Market.

Wednesday morning late, however, Antoinette and I took three of the guys from Hudson Community Chapel and Patrice to do a job we’ve meant to get to since January. We grabbed a couple stepladders and a battery-powered drill and climbed into the car rapide (small bus) that we’d hired for hauling the 26 folks around. Our goal: hang some mosquito nets in the place where many of “our” talibé live.

An organization called Wheels 2 Africa arranged to bring over various supplies with one of the racing teams in the Dakar rally back in January. We ended up with 100 chemically treated mosquito nets destined for the talibé. This is a godsend. This type of net is considered the best and simplest weapon against malaria. Insects that are attracted to the sleeping child are not only prevented from getting in to bite but also, when they rest on the mesh, they are killed by the insecticide. Inexpensive and effective.

But the problem we had was creating a way for the boys to hang them from ceilings that are twenty feet up.

You see, they live in an unfinished government building. I knew the building from the days when it was going up near our old neighborhood. I had walked by it many times in the past on my way to the Phare, crossing the big field it stands in. The money ran out before it was done amid accusations of corruption. The new government refused to continue a needless boondoggle. So, the thing has stood half-built and empty for 7 years or more.

Well, not quite empty. When the owner reclaimed the unfinished house that Mr. Diao was using to house his boys a few years back, he discovered this spot. And eventually a couple other Koranic school masters did, too. Not to mention several indigent families.

On Wednesday when we got there I was impressed by the size of the building. There is a huge courtyard open to the sky. It was intended as a warehouse, I’m sure, and would have had a roof. We found the Diao boys in class at one end of this area. They were reciting and working their lessons under the tutelage of some assistant teachers.

They live in what would have been offices or bathrooms or a lobby area. There are no windows or doors. There is no electricity or water. There are no toilets. Quite primitive. Even for boys from the village.

But they have fashioned beds, of sorts. They put a layer bricks down to get themselves off the ground level (think snakes and scorpions) and put a mat or thin piece of foam rubber down and blankets on that.

Jane saw our photos afterwards and said that they had cleaned up considerably.

I did notice that the beds were made. She noted the lack of trash inside. Apparently that was the major characteristic two days earlier when she and Antoinette stopped by to get permission to come.

Anyway, we spent an hour or so mounting hooks in the wall and running rope from one end of a room to another. And then hanging the queen-size mosquito nets. Actually, we started in the assistant teachers’ area. They have taken over the “restroom”. The two private stalls now have doors and a bed in each. A larger area had a couple beds. Then we moved on to that larger room. We also gave out another half-dozen nets for folks who had built little cardboard and plywood cabins in a larger space. It was kind of like a little lean-two village in that area. Anyway, they can hang the nets from their walls or ceilings.

The guys were very excited about the whole thing. All in all we only gave out 20 of the nets that day. I need to go back with Patrice and Ndiaga and spend a few hours hitting the other three big rooms.