Nouakchott, Mauritania - Summer 2005
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Traveling to Mauritania as a medical volunteer was an experience that will touch my life forever. Very few people have heard of Mauritania, and for good reason. While there is a coastline and some fishing industry, the vast majority of the country is barren and comprised of the Sahara desert. The people live in tiny villages dotting the sand dunes where they work not for profit, but merely to survive.
After an exhausting few days of travel, I finally arrived in Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania. Since I was now in an Islamic Republic, I had to keep my hair, legs, and ankles covered at all times. Adjusting to my new style of dress in addition to the arid desert heat was an initial challenge, but after a few days I began to enjoy the luxury of being able to cover up some seriously bad “desert hair”. We began working in a housing area just outside of the city. I worked with a translator to take histories and perform physical exams.
By working closely with the physician and nurses on the team, I was able to help treat many common illness of the region. The most prevalent conditions were malnutrition and parasite infections. Nearly every child was showing signs and symptoms of parasitic infections, and as I felt their distended bellies, I was amazed that so many children suffer from such a treatable condition. Altogether, we were able to treat approximately 500 patients.
After several days of treating the people of Nouakchott, we packed up our medicines and supplies and traveled into the interior of the country to a Pulaar village. Each member of our team was placed with a different family in the village while we were there. Since I did not speak a word of Pulaar, this was intimidating at first. However, hand signals go a long way toward communication and I was able to enjoy the time I shared with my host family. Each morning, we gathered in the one small clinic building to begin seeing patients. Villagers traveled by foot and donkey cart in order to be seen by the team. Again, malnutrition and parasites were major health care issues.
The people simply do not have access to the fruits and vegetables they need. As a result, many children suffer from pica and will eat sand and dirt. Unfortunately, scattered throughout the sand are many parasites and their eggs that when ingested go on to infect the child and further the extent of the malnourishment. Twenty percent of newborns in Mauritania will not survive until their first birthday. Despite the thousands of medications we brought, there just never seemed to be enough vitamins to go around. There were also moments of great joy in the clinic building. I was able to participate in my first delivery. Although there was no running water or electricity in the village, watching the mother deliver her child by the light of one small head-lamp is a moment that will always be with me.
My time in Mauritania was more than an amazing medical education. The cultural education was equally fantastic. After working all day in the clinic, I was able to come back and sit in the pitch dark with my host family (goats included), listen to them tell stories in their native language, and gaze at the breathtaking starry desert sky. Just ten minutes of evening relaxation was more than enough to balance out the inconveniences of scorpions, squatty potties, and dinners of sheep eyeballs. At the end of my three weeks in Mauritania, I made the long trek back to the U.S. to continue my medical education at Ohio State, but I will forever carry with me the lessons learned in a desert thousands of miles away.
Jessica Thiessen, Med 2 (Class of 2008)