On a pen-pen, naturally! Duh!!
Over the weekend I traveled to Buchanan - capital of Grand Bassa County - to assess the state of the county health services and system. It is only a 2.5 hour drive from Monrovia, so I left on a Sunday afternoon (after a great buffet lunch at the Royal Hotel...something to talk about another time) around 3PM to arrive in time. On our way we discover that a road construction company is blasting a hill to make way for the road. We stopped and waited for the blasting to be finished so we can keep driving without being hit by flying rocks. While waiting for the blasting to be finished, I got out of the vehicle to walk around (there was a river nearby). Many people were waiting with us and I noticed a lot of motorbikes and some cars behind us.
While walking towards the river I hear sounds. I immediately recognize it is a goat, and I was excited to see one out in the wild. I was disappointed to see that the goats were actually being transported on a pen-pen (Liberian word for motorbike).
As cruel as it looks in the pics, I have to tip my hat to whoever came up with that contraption to hold the goats. It fits perfectly on the back of a pen-pen and it had THREE goats in that small contraption. Notice the guy grinning wide while I am taking pictures. He seems to be proud of this invention.
While some guys are innovative in transporting animals, others are just plain lazy. The following picture shows a goat with its legs tied and transported on the back of a pen-pen by two guys. It seems to be happy sitting in the back seat in between two people.
After a short drive we arrive in Buchanan only to realize that the situation in town is tense. Allow me to explain. There was a maternal death in the county hospital few days before our visit. The woman's family claims it is due to medical error, the county hospital claims the woman died because her family did not bring her to the hospital in time. My understanding - with the limited information I received on site - is that it was a case of obstructed labor due to breech presentation that was not attended promptly. Regardless of who is at fault, the woman and fetus did not survive. The family is now up in arms against the hospital and issued a threat to kill all doctors and health workers at the county hospital. And here I am, a physician, arriving at the county hospital in a vehicle that a has a huge logo of our project. Its like saying "look at me, look at me, I am a doctor". The County Health Officer and most of the health workers fled town fearing for their life. Needless to say I got back in the vehicle and requested my driver to take me back to Monrovia immediately. We have a policy of not driving after dark, but I didn't feel safe staying in that town for an extra minute considering the tense situation. We got back to Monrovia safely around 9PM.
So, that's my dramatic trip to Buchanan. Even though I didn't get to do my work, I am happy to have witnessed the "goat mobile".
Over the weekend I traveled to Buchanan - capital of Grand Bassa County - to assess the state of the county health services and system. It is only a 2.5 hour drive from Monrovia, so I left on a Sunday afternoon (after a great buffet lunch at the Royal Hotel...something to talk about another time) around 3PM to arrive in time. On our way we discover that a road construction company is blasting a hill to make way for the road. We stopped and waited for the blasting to be finished so we can keep driving without being hit by flying rocks. While waiting for the blasting to be finished, I got out of the vehicle to walk around (there was a river nearby). Many people were waiting with us and I noticed a lot of motorbikes and some cars behind us.
While walking towards the river I hear sounds. I immediately recognize it is a goat, and I was excited to see one out in the wild. I was disappointed to see that the goats were actually being transported on a pen-pen (Liberian word for motorbike).
 |
| Goat mobile |
As cruel as it looks in the pics, I have to tip my hat to whoever came up with that contraption to hold the goats. It fits perfectly on the back of a pen-pen and it had THREE goats in that small contraption. Notice the guy grinning wide while I am taking pictures. He seems to be proud of this invention.
 |
| Three goats on the back of a pen-pen |
While some guys are innovative in transporting animals, others are just plain lazy. The following picture shows a goat with its legs tied and transported on the back of a pen-pen by two guys. It seems to be happy sitting in the back seat in between two people.
 |
| Lazy goat mobile |
After a short drive we arrive in Buchanan only to realize that the situation in town is tense. Allow me to explain. There was a maternal death in the county hospital few days before our visit. The woman's family claims it is due to medical error, the county hospital claims the woman died because her family did not bring her to the hospital in time. My understanding - with the limited information I received on site - is that it was a case of obstructed labor due to breech presentation that was not attended promptly. Regardless of who is at fault, the woman and fetus did not survive. The family is now up in arms against the hospital and issued a threat to kill all doctors and health workers at the county hospital. And here I am, a physician, arriving at the county hospital in a vehicle that a has a huge logo of our project. Its like saying "look at me, look at me, I am a doctor". The County Health Officer and most of the health workers fled town fearing for their life. Needless to say I got back in the vehicle and requested my driver to take me back to Monrovia immediately. We have a policy of not driving after dark, but I didn't feel safe staying in that town for an extra minute considering the tense situation. We got back to Monrovia safely around 9PM.
So, that's my dramatic trip to Buchanan. Even though I didn't get to do my work, I am happy to have witnessed the "goat mobile".
I am glad you got out of there safely! Whew.
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