A wealth of education

Today was a fascinating day.  I was part of a group of people that have moved here within the past two weeks.  I was the only one that had been here two weeks....most were here a few days.  All of the other attendees are employees and all that I met today are rotators.....Also, they were all men....from many different countries.

The purpose of the day was to go over Health, Environment and Safety risks and expectations.  So here are highlights of .what I learned:
Health: The primary issue discussed was Malaria concerns.  Apparently the nurse here did a survey in the Soyo  population in 2008 and found that 10,000-14,000 cases of Malaria were treated.  This is in a population of 150,000 in Soyo so approximately 10% of the local population have had malaria. This virulent type known as Falciparum is the strain here and frequently leads to Cerebral Malaria which is deadly.  They discussed the symptoms and treatment and concerns that many of the foreigners here choose not to take the prophylaxis that is provided.  This is true.  I don't understand why they don't.  Bryan and I do.

Then there was discussion of Hepatitus B and HIV as well as dehydration concerns here.  This is the same anywhere.

Next we learned about the Reptiles in this area from a game warden...seriously.....with the bush hat and looked like a safari guide...which he used to be in South Africa.  He went over the main venomous and semi venomous snakes in the area.  There are apparently 400 species and only 90 are venomous....good to know, right?.....  Here are the main ones he discussed.....Black Forest Cobra, Puff Adder, Black necked spitting Cobra, Jameson's Mamba (green with a yellow tail....not the black one although I believe that one is here too), Eastern Congo Burrowing Asp, Boomslang....a real killer.  Then the "semi-toxic": The red Lip Snake, Olive Whip Snake.  Then finally the non-venomous:  Brown house snake (eats rats), Common egg eater (toothless),Striped black and green snake that eats Geckos, and  African Rock Python (which they caught last May and it was only 4 meters (13.1 feet) and they are up to 6 meters (19.8 feet) here in Angola but in Cameroon can be  9 meters (29.6 ft).  Any snakes found here are caught and relocated to specific areas designated by the government.  This gentleman loves snakes and was adamant that no snakes are to be killed.
Oh, one more thing, if you get the venom in your eyes from the Spitting Cobra (which they have caught here) you must wash your eyes with water, beer, juice or urine for 30 min to get the toxin out.   Interesting......right?

The bees here are not more toxic than honey bees, they say, but they continue to pursue anyone who disturbs their hive much longer and that is why people die from the stings.......but they always relocate the hives they find because 70% of crops are pollinated by bees and we know that the food issue here is difficult....even with the bees.

There was someone who came and spoke regarding the land mine problem.   I was astonished to find that although they had "cleared" the base area here, in 2010 they still found 42 unexploded ordinances and in the surrounding area 574 unexploded ordinances and 50 anti personal mines......apparently the rain and water movement causes the mines  to "walk" from one place to another.  So staying on the roads and not walking at the side of the roads or where there is "high water marks" in certain areas is essential.

All of this was so interesting but then the person that talks about environment came and I was really impressed with what is being done to protect the water and wildlife here.  Because the base displaced sea turtles, they have helped to relocate many across the river and the ones that continue to come to the base, they protect the eggs and then release the babies.  They have done a lot of education in the surrounding community to help keep these endangered species protected.  I am hoping that I will have my pass in time to go to the last release of the baby turtles in the next week or so.  Otherwise I'll need to wait until next year.

So, don't you think you would have thoroughly enjoyed the day today?

No news on the community outreach meeting yet but tomorrow is another day.