I Vaccinated Obama

I got the best night sleep at the weird hotel in Bariadi despite the lack of water, the loud TV, the thumping bass, the lack of a mosquito net, and the smell of diesel. It was blissful. After an egg, a slice of bread, and some tea, we were off to Matonga, a fair sized village about a 2 hour drive from Bariadi. We knew we were getting close when we drove by two children leading their two very reluctant dogs down the road. Then we saw a couple young boys with a gaggle of about 10 dogs all making their way in our direction. Shortly thereafter, we pulled up to a sea of people and dogs.

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I climbed out of the car and literally waded through the chaotic scene. It was unbelievable. I have no idea where all these people came from -- this is a very rural area and the huts are just scattered through the countryside. It was a bit overwhelming at first, with all the people and all the yipping dogs. The dogs here don’t really bark so much as give off a really high pitched, whiny yelp. As we made our way through the crowd, we saw that two very straight and very organized lines had formed facing the local school building. One of the guys on the vaccination team, Paolo, is apparently a force to be reckoned with and he likes order. I have to say, I was impressed with how he organized the villagers. The only person he let cut the line was an old, partially blind man with one dog.

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Line for Vaccinations"][/caption]

I wandered around, taking in the scene and taking pictures while the vaccination team set up. They had two tables at the head of the two lines where everyone would come up and register. They would take down information on the dog (age, sex, vaccination status, name, owner’s name, etc) and give them a vaccination card. They would then take the vaccination card to the vaccination table where at least one person was drawing up syringe after syringe of rabies vaccine and a vaccinator would give the dog their dose. It was clear that people knew what to do. As soon as the needle would come out, the owner would restrain the dog by grabbing the head. Most of these dogs are not used to being on a leash (which is just some dried palm branches tied around the neck) and certainly not used to being handled. However, most owners knew exactly how to restrain the dog and there were very few dogs that gave us any problems.

Most of the people with dogs were boys between the ages of 5 and 15. This is because they are the ones that typically care for the dogs. In rural communities such as this one, dogs are used mostly for security against wild animals and intruders and for protection of their livestock.

We had been there for a while now but it seemed like the lines were not getting any shorter. I offered my services to pitch in and help. I started by just filling syringes for the vaccinators. Then I graduated to doing the vaccination. And finally, I actually was able to draw blood from two dogs. Participating in the campaign was an unforgettable experience.
[caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sweet Syringe Skillz"][/caption]
I vaccinated Obama and soon afterwards, my friend vaccinated Al Qaida. There must have been a hundred dogs named Obama. And about 200 dogs named Simba.

With one of the team members serving as a translator, I walked around and talked to the villagers. As soon as we said hello to anyone, a group of 5 million young boys would instantly appear around us, all very interested in the conversation. Most of the boys would give a shy smile and try and hide at first but were happy to tell me all about rabies and dog vaccination. They all remember rabies. They remember rabid dogs roaming the village, losing livestock to the disease, and humans going crazy and dying. Since the program has started, they have seen no more rabies. They told us that the vaccines must come back next year because without them, they will go back to the beginning, back to when there was rabies and everyone was afraid.

Finally the lines dwindled down and it was time for us to go. We had a long drive ahead of us to Mwanza and we wanted to be there before dark. After an hour or two on the bumpy, rutted dirt road out from Matonga, we actually reached tarmac. After 4 days and countless miles getting jostled around in a land rover on these bumpy dirt roads, my back was thankful for the relative smoothness of tarmac.

We celebrated the very successful trip with a lovely dinner and drinks at our hotel in Mwanza overlooking Lake Victoria. Now, I’m writing this post from Dar es Salaam, staring out at the Indian Ocean, and still processing the experience I had yesterday.
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