Tuesday, November 12, 2013
First three months down. I’ve done a lot of observing and
integrating. My language still has a ways to go before I’m at a professional
level, but nevertheless, it’s time to start some projects.
Now, among the many things I’ve learned thus far living in
Togo, one is that nothing is going to work out exactly as you’ve planned. So,
as I present the following project ideas to you, keep in mind they will most
likely fail or be altered significantly.
But, you gotta start somewhere, right?
Ideally, these are the major projects that I will be working
to develop throughout my next 21 months.
Care Group
My village has just over 4,000 people, the
majority of whom (women and children) only speak Kabiye. I will never be able
to host sensibilizations for that many people, nor will I ever be fluent in
Kabiye. So, as a health volunteer, it’s a huge obstacle to identify how to
reach everyone in the population. The Care Group is a project that will help me
bridge that gap.
Let’s say my village has 300 homes. For
every 10 homes, there will be 1 woman representative. That’s 30 women to
represent all the households in Kemerida. Each month myself and a partner (I’ve
chosen the accoucheuse of my dispensaire), will meet with these 30 women and train
them on a different health topic. Then, it is those women’s responsibility to
go to their 10 homes and regurgitate the same training. It reaches the people
of my village in their homes, on their terms, in their language. So much more
than I could ever hope to do alone.
The Care Group also has the benefit of
being able to provide excellent means of monitoring and evaluation. Each month,
I can send my women representatives out with pre and post surveys. I will be
able to see how many people they’re reaching with my initial sensibilitazations
and determine how the community’s former knowledge evolves with each
presentation. I’m also a numbers nerd, so I’m really excited about the
possibility of using this information to identify areas of focus in my community
for second year projects.
Ideally, the ASCs (community health
workers) of Kemerida will be a great resource for helping keep the women of my
Care Group motivated and accountable. ASCs already work for the dispensaire
doing similar work. The issue is there are significantly less of them and the
topics they present to the community are more limited. I hope they will
compliment the efforts of my Care Group and work with me to do follow up
visits.
Things I’m doing now to prepare:
Using my very limited internet, I was able
to download satellite pictures of my village. I’ve spent the last couple weeks
copying them over to one large map. I will use this map to try to identify
where the majority of people in Kemerida live. 4,000 people. That is not an easy
task. In some cases, I will settle for just learning how many households are in
each neighborhood. I hope to have this complete by the end of the month.
After getting a better idea of how the
population is distributed, I can determine how many women I need and section of
the houses into groups that need a representative. I will then work with my
homologue, Ben, the ASCs, and the dispensaire staff to identify women one woman
in each group that speaks/reads and writes in French and is responsible enough
to participate in the Care Group. I would like my women to be selected by the
end of the December.
January, we will hold our first meeting.
This will give me the opportunity to evaluate the group and determine if any
adjustments need to be made. Our
first training/sensibilization will occur in February.
School Health Club
I want to start a health club at
the CEG across the street from my house. The last level of education there
would be my focus. It includes kids ages 12 to 16ish that are in their last year
before high school. They speak and write decent French, so I’d be able to do
presentations with them. Also, I’d love to involve them in skits and art
projects regarding health issues here in West Africa.
Starting in the second trimester in
January (first one already started), I would like to meet once a month. Each
month will have a different topic. It will be for girls and boys combined.
However, during the month for sexual health, I’ve decided it would allow for a
more open, and thus more educational, environment to split up the sexes. Other
monthly topics I have in mind are HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, hygiene and
sanitation, and life skills.
Also, if things work out like I’m
hoping, we also be able to take a field trip to the University of Kara one
month.
Things I’m doing now to prepare:
First, I must meet with the
director of the CEG to get his approval. The issue is that, currently, there is
a nationwide teacher strike occurring. School has been cancelled until the
government reaches a consensus about what the pay raise is going to be. This post concludes the 3rd
week of no school. Fingers crossed it starts back up soon.
After school is back in session, I
plan to sit in on some classes for the duration of this trimester just to get
acquainted with the students and learn more about the education system here in
Togo.
Before meetings start, I will also
need to find a teacher to help me lead the club. They will be the person I prep
to take over the club for me once my service is complete. It’s not worth the effort if I can’t make this project sustainable.
Community Fetes (Festivals)
Using the Care Group and the School Health
Club, I’d like to plan village wide fetes every few months.
These will require a lot of planning and
will occur every few months. They will focus on the topics I would like to
stress in my community. Ideas I have currently are a Paludisme fete (malaria),
VIH/SIDA fete (HIV/AIDS), a Family Planning fete, and a Hygiene and Sanitiation
fete.
Things I’m doing now to prepare:
Creating a calendar for potential fetes.
I made a chart of 6 calendars starting
January 2014 through September 2015 (end of my service).
Calendar 1: World Wide Holidays (Worlds
AIDS day, Women’s day, Malaria Day, etc)
Calendar 2: Togo’s School Calendar (which
is actually, for the most part, unpredictable)
Calendar 3: Preliminary Care Group Calendar
Calendar 4: Preliminary Health Club
Calendar
Calendar 5: Already established Community
Events (i.e. Whipping Fete)
Calendar 6: Seasons of Togo (Rainy season,
Harvest, Harmatan, Hot season)
By combining all of these, I am able to get
a bigger picture of how all of my schedules can work together.
For example, April 25th is World
Malaria Day. In March, I can give a presentation to my Care Group about malaria
(causes, prevention, etc). They will then take a pre-survey out to evaluate the
knowledge and prevention practices of the 10 households they represent. That
same month, since it’s during the school year, I will give a malaria presentation
to my health club. They will work on a malaria skit and hopefully we will be
able to get permission to paint a malaria mural at the dispensaire.
Beginning of
April, my Care Group will invite all their households to the fete later that
month. Around the 25th, Kemerida will have its first annual
Paludisme Fete. It will be the in front of the recently completed malaria mural
and will have a skit performed by the health club. The major of the dispensaire
will give a sensibilization in Kabiye to address the knowledge and prevention
practices I gathered information on from the pre-surveys. There will be a
net-washing station, repairing station, and a net hanging demonstration. Also,
what’s a Kabiye fete without some Tchouk?
In May, after the
fete, the Care Group will be able to give a post surveys to gather data on how
the community felt about the fete and what they learned. If it was successful,
hopefully they’ll make it a yearly event.
Constructing
a pre-birth house (not sure of the official name) for my dispensaire
Kemerida is the
center of 4 villages that make up a canton. They are Kemerida, Teroda, Pyode,
and Atchao. The dispensaire is easily accessible by residents of Kemerida, but
those in the other three village have to travel quite a ways to access health
care (and it’s typically by foot).
During my first
few weeks at post, my major and another community leader asked my if I could make
one of my projects building a house near the dispensaire for women to stay when
they’re close to giving birth. This would encourage women from the more
isolated areas to come to the dispensaire to have an assisted birth in a safe
environment to help reduce infant mortality.
At the time, I
told them I wanted to first observe the village and determine what health problems
I thought needed to be addressed. After having the idea to start a Care Group,
I returned to their initial request and told them that if I can gather data
proving that it would be a benefit to the community, I would do what I could to
make it happen. Using surveys, I plan to do just that. If my village
demonstrates a genuine interest in the possibility and I can guarantee that it
will be used for the right reasons, I will work to raise the funds with my
position as a Peace Corps volunteer.
I warned both of
them, however, that I would not be the leader of the project. I wanted the
people of my village to do it themselves. I will attend all meetings, help
decide the amount of material needed, and work within the establish timetable,
but one person, or a committee of people, needed to lead the project. I believe
that by giving people ownership of these types of projects, they are more
likely to be protected against misuse – a big issue with development projects
where money and/or materials are just handed over.
Lastly, I’m also part of the World
Wise Schools Correspondence Match Program. I’m currently collaborating with a French
teacher in Massachusetts. Her students send me questions about the Peace Corps and
life in Togo that I respond to in French for their class. Eventually, I want to
match them with the English class at my village’s CEG and start a pen pal
program.
So, that’s it. Those are the things
I’m working on now and praying will work out in the future.
One thing here I’ve come to miss is
EFFICIENCY. You guys in America, be glad 95% of everything there is dictated by
it. It makes your work much less of a guessing game and a hell of a lot less
frustrating.
Again, I’ll have to let you know
more month by month as things develop.
Don’t be surprised if this all
changes completely. I just wanted you to get an idea of how I’m trying to make
a difference here in my village and inform you that I’m not just doing yoga and
reading books.
3-2-1 Blast Off.
Koumealo
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