Saturday 31 July 2010

THE LOCAL PHARMACIST DOES NOT LIKE US ANYMORE !

It was raining heavily. It was early August in 2006 and I was on my first visit to Nigeria. We were in the state of Bauchi . It was quite a long but comfortable drive from Abuja, the Nigerian capital. We were approaching the village of Birnin Ganye. The last stretch of our journey to the village seemed to take much longer because of the rains which had wrecked the mud tracts leading to this small village with a population of about 300. I had joined WaterAid a few months ago and this was my first visit to an African country after joining WaterAid.

“We can’t go any further in this vehicle”, our driver said. He had tried a few manoeuvres earlier and had somehow managed to take us as far as we could. We decided to get out of the vehicle and walk the rest of the distance. We could see Birnin Ganye, but it was across a swelling stream. It was only less than 30 feet wide, but we were asked to be careful because of the swirling and fast currents and the slippery stones that we had to step on. It was quite a spectacle. Most of the villagers had lined up on the other side of the stream, watching the guests arrive. The young men among them had got in to the stream to help us guide through the stream. In a few minutes, that was done and we were all on the other side, and walking towards the village.

It was a very poor village. All the 40 odd houses were in a cluster, built with mud and thatch. Education levels were low. Almost all adults in the village were casual agriculture labourers. The nearest urban centre was about 10 kms. away. Agriculture production was mostly for home consumption. There was very little surplus. But recently, they had something to be proud of and had thus become the envy of the neighbouring villages. And that is what brought us to Birnin Ganye.

Earlier during the year, a water and sanitation programme had been completed. This settlement now had its own borehole fitted with an easy-to-operate hand pump. This meant that people had easy access to safe water, and women in particular no longer needed to walk to the river to fetch watch. The walk to the river would take them an hour for each trip and the water was unsafe for drinking, but till the hand pump was installed, the river was the only source of drinking water, in addition to it being a place where people bathed, washed their clothes and brought their cattle as well. All the houses had a clean toilet, which was preceded by hygiene education, stressing the importance of washing hands at critical points in time. All this may not seem to be a great achievement, but for the poverty stricken people of Birnin Ganye, this was a matter of pride and happiness. They were happy that their village was now a ‘clean’ village with access to safe water, and proud that they played a key role in implementing the project with the support of the local government authorities and WaterAid. They had invested their time and effort, had mobilised the local group, and more importantly, had taken the responsibility of managing the water point and ensure that people actually used their toilets.

As we entered the village, the community gathered under a tree for a conversation. After the normal introductions and welcome speeches, one of the community members took us through the history of the project and their role. It was then time for us to ask any questions. My first question was what they thought the outcome of this project was. For some time, there was silence. People were talking to each other in hushed tones. Not sure if I had articulated my question properly, I asked them (through our local interpreter) if they could tell me how this project had changed their lives.

The answer was on expected lines. The women felt that they could save more time since they did not have to fetch water. Many people felt happy that their village was clean. And then suddenly, one young man got up and said, “The local pharmacist does not like us anymore”. There was quite a bit of amusement at what he said, but the people gathered there seemed to agree, nodding their heads vigorously. “Can you explain that in some detail” ? I pursued.

“Well”, he said, “there was lot of illness in this village. Every month, all throughout the year, we had to rush people to the local hospital because of diarrhoea, cholera and other diseases. It particularly affected the children the most and many of them died. The person who benefited the most was our local pharmacist because it was good for his business. And because we did not have enough money to buy medicines most of the time, he would lend us money and charge a hefty interest. It also meant that we started borrowing money from him for other purposes as well. We thus contributed quite a bit to his income. But the other day, when I saw him in the market, he wondered why people from this village no longer came to him, bought medicines or took credit. And my response to him was that we did not need him anymore. Our people had become quite healthy, because of the water and sanitation project, and the hygiene practices that our people are following” !

It was quite clear from the reaction of those around him that they were all in agreement. I am aware of a number of attempts by researchers and academicians who conduct detailed, rigorous studies to assess the ‘impact’ of external interventions. But to me, this statement of a young man, endorsed by all those who had gathered around him, was enough of an ‘impact assessment’ !