14.THE HOSPITAL OF THE POOR

 

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The police gave me back all my medical equipment. I showed my acupuncture diploma to the commissioner and notified him of my intention to continue treating the people who come to me for help.

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Tahara lent me a tent and one of her relatives who owns the house behind the wall of the first hospital allowed me to set up. I had the place cleaned up and a few trucks of clean sand brought in.

 

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Everything continues as it was before, I treat about 30 people a day, from morning until afternoon. I also go to the homes of people who cannot move.

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The situation is not as good as it was at Tahara’s. The tent is smaller, it is hot and above all, the place is very exposed to the wind, meaning dust. The dust in Timbuktu is one of the main sources of disease, the wind sweeps it up from the streets where the waste water is poured. It is soiled with the spit of all the sick people and the excrement of the children. It all dries up in the sun and flies up and away with the wind of March, the month of winds.

In addition, people regularly clear away the rubbish from the streets by burning it in piles. The smoke is smelly and toxic. No wonder that practically all the inhabitants of the city are afflicted with sinusitis, migraines and respiratory diseases.

 

We are just entering in the ‘winds of sand’ season and I find my new hospital very uncomfortable. I am not the only one who sees it this way, and if by chance a wealthy person comes in for treatment, they leave immediately and only the poor remain with me.

I’m happy about that, though, because rich people often want to be treated first and don’t want to wait their turn.

 

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