After two hard days driving through the desert in Mauritania, the trucks arrived yesterday in Atar to make the first delivery of medicines and medical material
Once the rocky and complicated tracks in Morocco and part of the Mauritanian desert have been left behind, the trucks of the Solidarity Dakar arrived yesterday at the bivouac in Atar, where they made the first delivery of medicines and material. To reach their first objective, they had to overcome the two hardest stages of the Dakar Rally: Tan Tan Zouerat first and Zouerat Atar yesterday. More than 1,000 kms in total on the road, without hardly any rest.
Thursdays stage, raced between Tan Tan and Zouerat, was the most complicated and the longest that the assistance teams have had to cover so far, having to drive almost 700 kms to reach Zouerat, without hardly any time to rest. The first ones to arrive were the assistance cars of the Repsol KTM Team, and Doctor Mir, who is travelling in one of them, got in touch with the general Hospital in Zouerat. The visit had the aim of assessing the needs of the centre for future actions and the result was very positive. Still waiting for the definitive assessment which will be carried out in Spain after their return, the needs of the Mauritanian hospital do not differ from the needs of other hospitals of the region: antibiotics, medical material, serum, eye drops and other basic essentials. The trucks took some more time to get there, but they reached the camp site without problems.
Yesterdays stage was a little more complicated for the assistance truck of the Solidarity Dakar Foundation, which got stuck in the sand of the dunes only 100 kms after the start. Truck number 814 was finally able to free itself thanks to the collaboration of another participating truck, but not before having to suffer a puncture in its efforts to continue. Finally and after 400 kms, the crew was able to reach the camp site, exhausted but with the load save and sound.
Under the supervision of Doctor Xavier Mir, part of the material gathered by the Solidarity Dakar Foundation was finally handed out. The first addressee was the general Hospital in Atar, which received two incubators, one ultrasound scanner and two anaesthesia devices, in addition to medication for one year and two pallets of perishable goods. The solidarity caravan went then to visit the Sisters of Atar. This congregation of Spanish, French and South American nuns was in charge of receiving and handing out a Quad, a defibrillator, another two pallets of perishable goods and medicines for one year to the Hospital of Chingetti.
The Solidarity Dakar is today on their way to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, where they will have two frantic days with the arrival of further 14 tons of material by plane from Marseille, which will be distributed in other hospitals, in addition to the planning work for the next year.
A happy and exhausted Doctor Xavier Mir explained in high spirits “I liked todays stage a lot, it went almost completely through sand and I was able to drive a lot. Im tired but happy. Tired because the last two stages have been very hard, especially yesterday, where we had almost no chance to sleep and covered more than 700 kms. But Im happy because it is an unrepeatable experience and things are working well, and the trucks are arriving, late, but with no problems, and that’s what counts. Im also very happy with the contacts were making and the planning work were doing for next year. Yesterday we visited the General Hospital in Zouerat and today we made the first material delivery here in Atar. This is being very gratifying and I want to thank all those who have supported this project, making it possible.
