Thursday, The Aftermath

The Prosthetic Clinic in Ouagadougou. It is the best in the region. It may not be fancy, but they do know what they are doing.

Rakieta and I waiting on our mat after the appointment. The mats are a staple in Burkina. The mat and I were good friends on this day.

So we had to get up at about 5:00am because Marie had made us an appointment at the clinic which was one of the main reasons for my visit. My only complaint about theses lovely people is that they just don't take things seriously. It took me 8 months to get the first appointment made and a trip over to get a plan to build a new prosthetic. Africa time is just not like American time and all that getting impatient does is make them more stubborn and mischievous. But I digress.
Anyhoo, we had to get up really early. I was still using the bathroom but was ok, definitely not feeling super great. Keep in mind the temps were over 100* everyday, No air conditioning anywhere except the 2 bedrooms I slept in, my ear was definitely not feeling well. (I resorted to the antibiotic I had been warned to take.)
I stuck to bananas for breakfast. Poor Kassoum arrived by bicycle at about 6:00. That is at least an hour to 2 hour trip. Shortly thereafter, we left for the clinic. It was already hot. The waiting room was a small corridor with rather comfortable chairs for Burkina and a lot of people already waiting. We waited at least 30 minutes before anyone at all was called. Meanwhile I began to scout for the bathrooom as nature was calling again. I gratefully found another flush toilet. It was something similar to the old gas station bathrooms from many years ago. Complete with the smells and very dirty towel. But I was not going to complain. After 3 or 4 trips in, I decided to join Kassoum outside in the shade on the mat. I napped for at least another 45 minutes. Paul felt terrible sorry for me so he had the driver get me 2 croissants and a Coca-cola. (I will discuss Coca-Cola bottling later)
Eventually they did see us. Everything was fine and a plan was made to build another prosthetic. Total cost for the visit-about $3.00.
This day is very long and eventful so I'll break it up over several posts.