In love with Africa

Born in a French family, she had a comfortable life. Till she met and fell in love with a charming African in the faculty of law in Paris. Despite her father's dire warnings, she decided to give up her life of comforts for the man she loved. Viviane Wade, wife of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, hasn't regretted her decision.

Viviane, who became the First Lady of Senegal in 2000, spent 26 years of her married life standing by Dr Abdoulaye Wade, who was leading the Opposition. She recalls the time when hundreds of people from all over the country would come to her house in Dakar to narrate their problems. "I learnt a lot about the needs of Senegalese when President Wade was in the Opposition, but I was unable to do much. The day President Wade and I moved into the presidential palace, I decided to play a role in rebuilding the country," she said.

Since then, Viviane has not rested, as she found herself in the middle of a massive rebuilding operation that requires her to spare no effort.

Her sincere and organised approach to help the people of Senegal has met with remarkable success in healthcare and education over the past three years. It may seem funny, but winning the war against the deadly tsetse fly was considered Viviane's biggest triumph. She adopted a simple trick to get rid of a chronic problem that had been plaguing West Africans for ages.

Viviane said her first contact with tsetse took place two years ago when a patient arrived at the clinic. "The nurses told me that the fly causes sleeping sickness [ trypanosomiasis] which leads to death if not treated. I learnt later that the version that hits animal impedes the rearing of cattle, and that tsetse fly is a serious obstacle to development in the region," she said.

Traps installed

"I started investigations about tsetse and experiments were conducted with a group of specialists to kill these flies in their breeding season. About a 100 traps containing non-toxic materials were installed along the rivers where tsetse breeds. Three months later, there was a 96.56 per cent decrease in the number of flies in the region. The eradication rate was magnificent and research is on to finish off the remaining 3.4 per cent flies that belong to a different breed of tsetse which have genetic immunity against the material used in the traps," Viviane added.

However, the fight against the fly alone cannot sum up Viviane's accomplishments. The nutrition supplement tablets developed by her from herbs that grow widely in Senegal and the schools built by her Education Sante society to teach modern agriculture practices along with contemporary sciences have earned Viviane international recognition.

In a subtle marketing tactic that reflects her love and admiration for her adopted nation, Viviane insists her visitors try a cup of bassab tea that grows in Senegal. The tea, she said, boasts of "high nutritional and medicinal values". She said she wanted to see Senegal become a major producer of the tea.

In her small but elegant office at the presidential palace in Dakar, Viviane recounted the story of how the Education Sante society has grown from its humble beginnings to have a massive impact on the lives of thousands of Senegalese. She has a lesson for every woman and perhaps every man: People who stand up to difficulties sometimes need little external support to ignite the power they have within to change their lives for the better.

Oppression

Viviane said her love for Africa started when she was in secondary school. "I was attached to this part of the world for reasons I am unable to explain.

For instance, the oppression inflicted by colonial powers, including my country, on nations in Africa has always been a source of discomfort to me. When I met with Monsieur Wade at the law school, I fell in love with him and I decided to move with my husband to Senegal to be a part of this community."

She launched Education Sante in June 2000, three months after President Wade became the third elected head of state following 40 years of socialist governments. "I believe real development in a society should be built on comprehensive healthcare and education policies. I decided to focus my pilot project in Senegal's forgotten areas and started with Kedougou province, 700km to the south-east of Dakar," she said.

"The problems in the area are truly complicated and more than 40,000 people living there suffer from ages of marginalisation. I told myself that if the development programme succeeded in Kedougou, it will definitely work anywhere in Senegal.

"I tried to solve healthcare problems by creating telemedicine links between the region and major health institutions in the rest of Senegal. Stationing full-time doctors at Ninefesha village in Kedougou was difficult at the beginning of the programme because of the area's tough conditions," Viviane added.

Education Sante and Senegal's Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Airborne Health and Satellite Intervention Force in France and the National Centre for Space Studies, are running a satellite telemedicine experiment which links a makeshift clinic in Ninefesha with referral hospitals around the country. "The staff of clinics in the region receive patients and get a real-time specialist diagnosis from referral hospitals in the capital and other major cities," she said.

A confident Viviane says based on the experiences in Kedougou, she is sure that Senegal's problems can be solved. "All we need to achieve our goals are sincere efforts and trust in the ability of our nation to accomplish the change," said Viviane.