FMT in partnership with The Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) brings you a Covid-19 “healer” from French Guiana.
The remote communities along the Maroni River can only be accessed by boat or air. These “Kampus” are just hamlets, made up of a few huts.
Health workers are faced with an influx that they have to screen for the coronavirus at the dispensary or in surrounding villages. Workers need to then follow up and, if necessary, evacuate them to hospitals in the city.
Jean, a nurse from Metropolitan France, is posted at the entrance of the dispensary to screen for symptoms of Covid-19.
Yet communication is difficult, as the patient he is talking to does not speak French. Maya, a nurse based in the local dispensary, is giving an update on testing protocols for saliva tests for the coronavirus.
Every day, a team consisting of a doctor, a nurse and a local intermediary go on tour to visit local villages. They inform people of positive test results and the precautions that must be taken.
Antoine, another nurse from Metropolitan France, and Victoria, a “Ndjuka” mediator, help to detect and screen potential Covid-19 cases.
Thibaud Vaerman was born in France in 1986. Photography imposed itself at the end of his studies as a new vector of representation of reality. His first experience as a photographer and video maker at the École des Mines de Paris allowed him to touch on a wide range of subjects, between reportage, portrait and events. Independent since 2018, he has set up a project that has been at the heart of his preoccupations for many years: the Atlantic crossing by sail, from Brest to the West Indies, to meet the actors of the ecological transition. The ECODYSEA project then combines writing, photos and videos to bring the reader to share the daily life on board and live the discoveries on land. Back in France and settled on the banks of the Loire, he carries out corporate and media missions and devotes himself to various personal projects, both in photos and videos. View his portfolio here.
‘The Other Hundred Healers’ is an initiative by the non-profit organisation GIFT. The 240-page, full-colour, hardcover book can be purchased here at US$40 per copy for a minimum order of 20 copies.
