But she said she couldn't afford the rest. Ahoud, speaking quietly in her tribal language of Baoule, said meekly that that wasn't what she meant. A tailor's shop on the outskirts of Abidjan is a testament to both the poverty and the enterprising nature of the region. A major goal of the Gates Foundation is to break the cycle of poverty and disease in the Ivory Coast. Even if she had, there is no guarantee that the vaccines would have been there.
Supplies are erratic, even in good times.
They share a metal-roofed, concrete room the size of a closet with Ahoud's aunt. It has no electricity or running water. It's a pretty simple idea, really, that assumes if you are poor and you get sick, you're going to stay poor. In the village of Dougba, Anicet N'Dri peddles a rat that he killed with a slingshot to passing motorists. N'Dri gets about 70 cents each for the rats he sells to truckers, who roast them roadside on an open fire.