Mahotiere

Previously a tough 2 hour hike up a steep, rocky mountain trail, the village of Mahotiere is now a 20 minute steep, rocky, nail-biting ride in a 4 wheel drive truck from Grand Boulage.  The road was hand carved out of the mountain by the local people, making their village more accessible, and a much easier route for them to get down to the markets and jobs below.

The village center is a school and church.  The school is enclosed by a rock wall, while the church is outside the wall. From there, the road winds around several farm fields and goes on into the mountains. Small, simple structures are found scattered in the hillsides.  Some of the farm fields are filled with geodes.

There are no stores; and local village women and children sell food and drinks outside the school walls.  They survive mostly on subsistence farming and selling what extra crops they have on local market days or down in the valley.

The medical clinic uses the local government school.  Two classrooms are set up with medications and the doctor stations where we see patients; and two  classrooms are used for sleeping quarters in the 3-4 days we are there.  At night the children and teens come to the enclosure and play games and sing and dance. They definitely want the visitors to join them!  As soon as the generator stops, everyone goes home.

Village life here is less hectic than in the larger village of Thomazeau down in the valley.  The mountain air is cooler and fresh smelling. Children wait patiently with their families for hours at times to be seen by the doctors.  Patients seem healthier, with less malnourishment and disease.   Most common treatments here were for intestinal worms, scabies, upper respiratory infections, and hypertension, with 803 patients treated.