For those who may not have heard, young children in a number small villages in Nigeria have been dying from lead poisoning. The lead poisoning is a result of ore processing for gold in the homes of the villagers. The ore comes from local mines and is sold to the villagers who use milling machines to grind the ore into fine dirt and dust. The grinding process occurs in the living spaces of the compounds in the villages and coats the entire area with lead containing dust. Some soil readings with an XRF have been as high as 200,000ppm of lead.
Apparently this ore processing has been occurring for about 20 years now. It is the peoples livelihood. But over the last year or so, the ore has been coming from an area with naturally high levels of lead, so we are only seeing lead poisoning issues in the last year or so. Reports are that up to 300 children have died of lead poisoning in the last year.
The problem was apparently identified by MSF. Since the discovery of this problem, non-profits and government entities have become involved to try to rectify the problem.
I have been given the opportunity to help in the cleanup of some villages. As I understand it, I will be traveling to Nigeria for a three week volunteer stint. Since the area we will be travelling to is predominately Muslim, men are not allowed into certain areas of the compounds (homes) so I will be working with a female counterpart. Our goal will be to use the XRF to document lead concentrations in the soil in each compound and to help make sure that soil with high lead concentrations is removed to an acceptable level, in this case I think it is 4,000ppm. Once the soil is removed, new clean soil will be brought in and spread around. In addition to our cleanup efforts, I am under the impression that the Nigerian government is assisting the villages in moving the milling operations outside of the villages. The hope (compromise) is that the villages will stay relatively clean and the villagers will be able to continue with their livlihood.
I am very excited to be involved in this cleanup effort. I don't have all the details yet, but I believe I will be heading over there sometime in October. I hope to provide updates as often as possible. Word is that there are cell towers all over the area I am going to be in even though it is very remote. I believe we will be working along the southern edge of the Sahara.
I have had a consultation with a travel medicine center here in Boise. There are many shots that are recommended, only a few required. At this point I am waiting to hear from the NPO as to which shots they will require me to get. As far as I am aware, all expenses will be paid for on this trip except my time. As it happens, I have more than enough PTO saved to make this trip. My family is supportive of the trip too. Everything is falling into place very nicely, including the support of my employer.
My next move is to get everything gathered and to learn what I can about the area. A friend of mine recommended that I read "Half of a Yellow Sun" to get some idea of how the culture has developed because of the revolution. There is a small part of me that is a little freaked out by all this, but I am more excited than anything else.
