tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54258770631911276842024-02-20T19:05:20.326-08:004,620 Miles from HomeI'm a Community Health Development worker with the United States Peace Corps working in Burkina Faso.Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-33135132834263006162013-10-04T01:30:00.002-07:002013-10-05T00:36:29.629-07:00Family Planning with Marie Stopes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When I first got to my village a little less than two years
ago, one of the first thing they told me is: “Drew, we need help on family
planning.” And it was true, roughly 12% of eligible individuals used some type
of family planning tool. There were a couple of reasons for this: 1) there are
a lot of misconceptions about family planning in my village such as, if you
start family planning you can’t stop. If you use family planning you won’t have
enough people to work in the fields come rainy season. It’s too expensive. It’s
dumb, etc.</div>
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Since this was clearly a problem we started trying to tackle
it- by informing people about the misconceptions of family planning, of the
dangers of having a family that’s too big, and of the changing stereotype that
yes, a big family is good but a smaller
more well nourished and educated family is better. </div>
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Some people took the message to heart and our numbers
climbed a bit. Other people didn’t hear the message and some just ignored it-
such is life. Along the way though, I was luckily enough to meet someone (Adolphe) who
works for Marie Stopes International- a non-governmental organization (NGO)
that works exclusively with family planning. Their plan is pretty simple- they
give family planning methods for a reduced fee and they go to different
villages to teach people about them, and then do the procedure. </div>
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I started calling Marie Stopes (about once every 10 days) to
see if they could get a team to my village and just look around to see if we
qualify. Even though they kept saying, “We’ll call you back” and I never heard
anything I kept calling because my nurses were getting kind of excited about
it.</div>
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My new buddy, Adolphe and I started talking and I kept
impressing the fact that family planning isn’t something my village does well.
While we were at a training called Men As Partners together we decided that we
would do a project together and that he would come to my village to talk about
family planning to students- because we had done it with another volunteer a
few times and it had turned out to be pretty successful.</div>
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The day finally came and I had scheduled to do everything at
the school- they had actually said that they wanted me to come to the school
for a while and that, even though I asked every other week when I could come
and help, they still had not been able to find a date. Despite the fact that I
had confirmed the date and time 24 hours before at 8AM the director called me
to tell me we had to cancel. Apparently there were tensions regarding a family
planning talk among the teachers so we could not go. Adolphe and I were super
bummed out over this new development especially since he had come all the way
from to village to make it work. </div>
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Never fear though, everything is useful in some way and I
used this failed class as an opportunity to show how much help my village needs
in family planning. Adolphe toured our facilities (not so shabby by village
standards) and saw our numbers (very shabby) and talked to the nurses. As he
was leaving he said he would make sure a family planning team came to my
village because we really needed the help. </div>
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A few weeks later Adolphe came back with awesome news. It
was great to see him even though we were in the middle of a mosquito net
census. Even with the unfortunate timing, this project was important to my village and to me so I was able to do both projectsThe Marie Stopes team would be coming in a week. We informed all the
important people including a lot of religious leaders who all were incredibly
supportive of our endeavor and agreed to round up some women (and men) so we
could talk to them about family planning 24 hours later. </div>
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The next day we spoke to roughly 75 women about family
planning and Marie Stopes, we spoke to some
in the chief’s courtyard (thus helping to convince him that I actually
do things) and some at the Imam’s courtyard. The pastor promised to mention us
during his sermon too- all in all- some very good press. </div>
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When the team finally did come we didn’t get the numbers
that Marie Stopes. Only 30ish women showed up. But now Marie Stopes comes and
does this every month and they keep pushing our numbers higher. And, any
improvement is a good thing.</div>
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While I had very little to do with the implementation of the
actual family planning aspect of this- I was very excited to have laid the
groundwork through my work with Marie Stopes. It allowed an NGO that already
operates in Burkina Faso to do more sustainable work in my village. There may
be a volunteer after me, and they may be really interested in family planning.
Or, they might not. If they were not, any positive behavior changes might not
continue if a volunteer created project fails. But, with Marie Stopes; they are
an organization that has proven their competency and is unlikely to go
anywhere.</div>
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It also serves as a lesson that staying at site all the time
might not be the most beneficial way to go about a Peace Corps service. This is
a common debate among people actually. Some people say that on order to be
trusted by the community you need to be there and you need to be integrated. I
agree with this statement. However, I also think that getting out of site from
time to time is extremely helpful because it allows you to make connections
that you wouldn’t have made otherwise. Peace Corps is partly about making
connections. Group 1 has problem x. Group 2 has the skills and resources to
solve problem x. PCV knows both groups and can put them in contact so they can
solve the problem together- and create sustainable change. </div>
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Hopefully through continued collaboration, Marie Stopes and
my village will be continue to create long term, sustainable change in my
village long after I am gone.</div>
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Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-57509861444147810072013-10-04T00:38:00.002-07:002013-10-04T00:38:18.745-07:00Mosquito Net Census<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Another month where I did not write any blogs. However, I
did manage to accomplish a few things. Aside from the marathon, I led a
mosquito net distribution in my village.</div>
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Every few years Burkina Faso does a mosquito net
distribution campaign with the hopes of getting 1 mosquito net for every two
people. To do this accurately you either need to a) have an extremely accurate
census of every community or b) go door to door and physically count the number
of people in each courtyard and go from there. We used option b. Since my major
was going to be out of town and no one at my health center knows the village
better than me, I was put in charge. Fun, right? Actually kind of. </div>
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The way I see it, I was brought to my village to work and I
hadn’t done a whole lot of it, so I really enjoy any opportunity to help out.
My major had already come up with a list of people who would help out which
made it a lot easier so all I had to do was: divide them into teams, decide
where in village they would go, make sure their materials were ready, tally up
the results at the end of the day, monitor the results, transmit them to the
district, take care of any problems, make sure all of the forms and maps were
drawn correctly so that the district would be able to understand our plan if
they were to supervise, and visit every team everyday to make sure they were
doing what they were supposed to. </div>
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Since my village is a rather large place, I knew this was
going to mean a lot of biking for me- which I was really looking forward to
because it would be my first physical activity since the marathon a few weeks
beforehand. We decided that the groups would leave at 6AM so I had to get to
the CSPS at 530 to make sure all the forms were put together properly, that
they were labeled properly, and that each group was supplied with a pen and
some chalk. Then I would go back to house for a bit, eat some breakfast, and
then grab my bike and see 6 teams in a few hours. </div>
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The registration process was very simple. Each team had a
registration spreadsheet and a ticket book. Each family would get a ticket and
each ticket had a number. The ticket would read the name of the head of the
family, the number of nets they were getting, and where they were going to get
the nets. The spreadsheet had the same information but the teams had to write
down the ticket numbers and there were spaces for the supervisor to verify the
teams’ work. </div>
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I really enjoyed the biking from team to team. I got to bike
through the parts of my village that I don’t usually see and interact with
people who might not come to the health center very often. I think the
volunteers who got to help out with this during their first year are lucky
because it allows their village to see them multiple times over the period of a
few days. During each supervision I had a checklist to make sure everyone was
there, had been trained in what we were doing, were counting people correctly,
were filling out the forms correctly, and were giving people the correct
information. Most teams were doing it right but a few had some small errors
that I corrected. Often it was, “Great job! Keep up the good work!”</div>
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The real trouble came when you had people who were not home.
Usually the census-takers would just find a neighbor and ask, who would find
another neighbor and the two would discuss it before answering how many people
lived in that courtyard. That had to be considered with cultural norms as well.
For example, if a family had 12 people- but one was a teenage boy, they
probably shouldn’t be sleeping with their 9 year old sister. So the teams were
instructed to make sure nothing culturally inappropriate happened in the
survey. Also, since the days were so long, there were routine mistakes that
showed up- such as people writing the same ticket number down twice so one was
skipped, or the names did not correspond with the ticket we had given them. I
was pretty good about catching these errors as I saw them but one or two
slipped by me.</div>
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The 6 days passed pretty slowly because I was kept so busy.
Often I didn’t eat lunch until 1PM and then I had to be back at 3PM to tally
all the numbers and to make sure we were on track. But I was really productive,
the teams were happy, and the people who live in my village were happy. The
district was especially happy, they started asking other CSPS’ why their forms
weren’t as well done as ours- which is quite the compliment. </div>
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I was incredibly tired each day but with a sense of
accomplishment which is always a good feeling- like a workout that hurts
afterwards because you know you did a good job. And everyone else realized how
hard I was working- especially since I was juggling a family planning project
at the same time.</div>
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At the end of the campaign we turned all the papers in and
were told that we would have the mosquito nets by the end of August- the height
of malaria season. </div>
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Overall, it was a really good project to be involved in and
to lead. I enjoyed collaborating with the teams and the CSPS staff to lay the groundwork
for a successful mosquito net distribution.</div>
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Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-64025936253879731532013-10-04T00:36:00.004-07:002013-10-04T00:36:55.265-07:00The Marathon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last year my buddy, David, and I decided that we would run
the Burkina Faso marathon. After all, it’s a physically grueling race that
takes a while to prepare for and in a country where Peace Corps Volunteers lack
things to do- it helps pass the time. It is also a solid goal to work towards
and then when you actually do it you know that you actually accomplished
something. So we found a marathon plan online, and started training. In
February we ran a half marathon (see blog post) and then kept right on training
for our race in June.</div>
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Unlike the Boston marathon which is run in the spring, or
other marathons that are not run during the hottest part of the year, the
Burkina marathon is not like that. It’s run towards the end of hot season. So,
it was hot.</div>
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As the preparation went on we found out that we would be
joined by two other PCVs: Tim and Natalya. Plus a few Embassy workers as well. Some
people had run marathons before and were well acclimated to the stresses of
running 26.2 miles. Others had read a book about how marathons are about getting
to the finish line and how it’s really a combination of mind, body, and spirit.
David and I just decided to download a marathon training program, follow it and
see how it went. </div>
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Surprisingly it went pretty well, for a time. We started
well in advance and we even had time to run half of a marathon along the way
which really bolstered our spirits (see related blog post). And then we got
busy. Between projects, volunteer responsibilities and the like we both stopped
running religiously and unfortunately, during the month of April we barely ran
at all. Tip for anyone hoping to run a marathon: don’t take most of a month
off. It doesn’t do anything positive for anyone. </div>
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Once May hit we realized that we probably should be running
and making sure we could actually finish the marathon. My village saw me
training again and started getting excited and cheering me on. Predictably May
flew by and we soon got to June.</div>
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As we got closer to the date we found out that people were
planning on biking with us to bring water, snacks, and keep an eye on us. In
total there were about 5 bikers with us, including Christina. The day before
the race Christina and I came into the city to pick up the running shirts and
where I told a bunch of people that I was going to win the marathon (I was just
joking but it was kind of funny to see how people reacted).</div>
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The night before we had a pasta party of sorts and talked
about pre-race questions: Is it okay to walk? Should you wear a watch? Do you
run with a buddy? And then we retired to a hotel and went to bed.</div>
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The race was due to start around 630 AM so we woke up at 430
in order to be picked up by a taxi on time and get to the race a little bit
early (we had watched <i>Run Fat Boy, Run</i>
recently and were scared of showing up late). We got there in plenty of time,
warmed up a bit, and all of a sudden we were off. The course started easily
enough, and just as last time all the Burkinabe took off very quickly. But
after 2 miles they started dropping out. The PCV group started spreading out as
well. </div>
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The race course took us around Ouagadougou a bit before
sending us straight up the road to a village called Laye. Taking turns and
stuff and seeing people was pretty cool because we knew we were going to be
bored once the course straightened out. </div>
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After a few miles (6 or so) I realized that I was pulling my
pants up with alarming regularity and, being in the middle of an extremely
grueling activity I didn’t react very well. My shorts elastic had been ruined
by the washing techniques of Burkina (handwashing) and the elastic had
stretched to the point where it no longer fit. So rather than say something
logical like oh let’s use a safety pin to pin my shorts together I said
something along the lines of I need a new pair of shorts (I had brought 2 but
the other pair was across Ouaga). So, Christina, being the amazing person that
she is said she would bike back and get my other pair of shorts and I would
stop and change somewhere when she met up with me again. </div>
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For a little while I was running with another volunteer who
was biking but then we got separated so I ended up running without food or
water and only getting 1/3 of a liter every 5 kilometers (not as much as you
need when running in an almost desert). But, I kept going and kept pressing forward. I
found another running buddy who had done the marathon before and we kept each
other company for a bit. Then, the volunteers who were handing out water
decided to leave because the leaders had already passed. So, the further along
I got, the less water there was.</div>
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Eventually it got to the point where I was walking, had
extreme tingling in my extremities, had stopped sweating, and was seeing
double. I collapsed by the side of the road and realized that I should probably
take a rest because someone would come past me sooner or later with water and
some form of snack because I thought I was severely dehydrated. As luck would
have it, Christina found me not long after and gave me fluids and bananas. I
felt a bit better but not enough to keep going so I got put into a minivan and
driven to the finish line. All the other volunteers finished and they were very
happy.</div>
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Understandably I was pretty bummed. I hadn’t finished the
marathon and I hadn’t crossed the finish line. It was not a fun situation to be
in. But, after we got back to Ouaga I was talking to someone who worked at the
embassy who said, “I can’t believe that course- it was too long.” I replied,
“by how much?” “1.1 miles”, she replied. </div>
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And I felt great. Despite collapsing by the side of the
road, and throwing a tantrum over my shorts I had still managed to finish the
marathon because someone had incorrectly designed the route. Only in West
Africa would that happen.</div>
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In conclusion, I ran a marathon. It was hot, it wasn’t
pretty, and I didn’t cross the finish line. But I made it 26.2 miles. Maybe
I’ll try and run the Boston marathon one day. </div>
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Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-21243917441015725532013-05-01T09:15:00.001-07:002013-05-01T09:15:25.298-07:00Malaria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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April 25<sup>th</sup> was World Malaria Day which made all
of April: Malaria month. Fun fact: 90% of all Malaria- related deaths occur in
Sub-Saharan Africa. </div>
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So while Malaria is bad and in everybody’s best interest not
to get it- here are some things Burkina Faso does to help get rid of Malaria.
They publish flyers in several languages talking about what malaria is and how
to best protect themselves. They subsidize malaria medications throughout the
country (actually I’m not sure where the money comes from- someone subsidizes
it). And, they do bed net distribution campaigns throughout the country every
two years or so. The bed nets come from other parts of the world though the
government says to distribute them. </div>
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Mosquitos love to bite at dusk, dawn, and throughout the
night. So, sleeping under a mosquito net seems like a pretty good way to
protect oneself. Unfortunately, not everybody sleeps under a mosquito net- some
people use it to filter water, some people go fishing with it, some people use
it as decoration and, of course, some actually sleep under it. But, to really
help get rid of malaria people need to engage in their own health. </div>
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The signs of malaria are pretty vague- headache, fever,
joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, that kind of stuff. And there are an infinite
number of other maladies that have THE EXACT SAME SIGNS! Of course when malaria
progresses and becomes, as they say in Burkina, “grave” (bad.)- it quickly
singles itself out through seizures, urine the color of coke, anemia- and other
less-than-awesome things. </div>
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The vagueness at the outset means that misdiagnosing comes
into the equation at some point. Some nurses (not all because that would be
generalizing), if they see someone with a fever will automatically say its
malaria and will prescribe the necessary medication- and then, just to be on
the safe side will prescribe an antibiotic also just in case they were wrong. While
covering all the bases is good, it will invariably lead to resistance to the
medications. </div>
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To aid in this, Rapid Diagnostic Tests have been gifted to
Burkina Faso. These tests work much like a pregnancy test but rather than urine
it asks for a drop of blood. Then, if the parasite is in the blood you get two
lines which mean, “Congratulations, you have malaria!” </div>
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The problem with this is that some nurses don’t believe in
the test and think that it’s wrong. One
time I walked into the consultation room and saw that they were prescribing
malaria medication and…</div>
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Me: Oh cool, malaria case?</div>
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Nurse: Yep.</div>
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Me: So the TDR (rapid test) was positive?</div>
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Nurse: No it was negative. But it was wrong.</div>
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Me: Huh? </div>
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Now this isn’t to condemn the nursing system in Burkina Faso,
far from it in fact. The Minister of Health has published a chart which all
health centers are required to hang up (and follow). Its steps are: 1) Someone comes in displaying signs of malaria. 2) Do the rapid test 3) If positive then 4) Treat for malaria OR 3) If negative then 4) Look for something else.</div>
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Another problem is that the stock of rapid tests is not
guaranteed. Indeed, more often than not, the rapid tests are not available in
my health center so we cannot use them. </div>
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While Peace Corps volunteers typically focus on preventative
measures, there are many ways to fight malaria- including more effective
detection and treatment of malaria. </div>
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Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-24520302725943808882013-05-01T06:10:00.002-07:002013-05-01T06:10:28.691-07:00FARNed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Since I last posted in February, I’ve been fairly busy.
First, I gave a workshop to 20 nurses from different parts of the district
regarding nutrition and a specific model the Peace Corps uses to help stop
malnutrition in villages. It’s an interesting problem- the Minister of Health
has said that the care of moderately malnourished children is the
responsibility of the community and not the responsibility of the state-
different from the previous protocol. Also, the current practice of giving
children Plumpy Sup/ Plumpy Nut: a peanut butter like substance that comes in a
shiny package and everyone calls “chocolate” isn’t working in my village. So
the MCD (medecin chef de district- head doctor of the district)used something I
had said during a presentation I gave to another doctor within our district,
and set up a training to teach other nurses how to do it with the expectation
that they would implement the model in their villages. The pilot for this
program was to be conducted in three villages: Poa, Kokologo and, Sabou. The model
is called a HEARTH in English and a FARN in French- means the same thing
though. So the district supplied the materials, and I supplied the know-how and
things were good. </div>
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The HEARTH model is built off of the philosophy that people
learn best by doing and doesn’t take anything for granted. Every day for 12
days a group of 10-15 mothers meets at a central location and make an enriched
porridge and talk about a health subject. Our model was going to use 3 groups
of 5 mothers in different locations. The first 6 days are led by the group
leader while the last 6 are led by the participants themselves. It’s a way for
them to show what they learned during the first 6 days. Each day the mothers
feed their children the enriched porridge and they start to see what the child
likes and what they don’t like. The porridge is actually pretty easy to make.
It’s made up of some type of flour (corn, millet, etc.), some type of protein
(peanut butter, beans, dried fish, etc.), oil, sugar or salt, and some fruit if
it’s available. While there are recipes it’s really easy to mix and match which
makes the entire process a lot easier. </div>
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When we got back to site, things became a little more
difficult. The district had arranged to pay the participants and while that
served as a strong motivator to sign up, it didn’t assure that all the mothers
would go everyday and it didn’t promote sustainability. So we found the mothers
whom we identified as “positive deviants”- women who live at the same
socio-economic level as the majority of the village, but rather than having
malnourished, sick kids- they have kids who are well nourished and generally
healthy. We were essentially looking for people who don’t leave their kid alone
at home for long periods of time, know what to feed their kids, know when to go
to the health center for treatment, and know/implement healthy behaviors. And
then we identified women who have moderately malnourished children and would
benefit from this project. We also told them we would be paying them. Of
course, they said yes. </div>
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After that we informed our community health agents that they
were going to go to each of the houses and observe the practices of the mothers
at their house. This is so we knew what the mothers did well and what they did
not do and then we could pick specific health topics that the women needed to
know about. Our topics were Malaria, Hygiene, Nutrition, Family Planning,
Pre-natal Consultations and, Exclusive Breastfeeding. </div>
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While this was happening we told all the women to come to
the health center for consultations- there we gave every kid a de-parasiting
agent, iron supplements, and vitamin A. We also asked every mother if there was
anything wrong with their kids- and if there was, we treated them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point of the HEARTH is that it has amazing potential for
sustainability and doesn’t need a Peace Corps volunteer for the implementation.
It’s made using locally available ingredients, the education is all about
things nurses are supposed to teach people about anyway, and it’s a way to make
the community better starting from the base of the community. However, my
village seemed almost afraid of doing something without me. So, we would sit
down and talk about what we had to do, we’d make a schedule and then if I left
for two days to deal with something else I would come back and it wouldn’t be
done. So, that was slightly frustrating and more than slightly confusing. This
slight issue made it so we had to start after the other two villages had
already finished- not the worst thing ever but also not sending a good signal
to the district. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, after all the waiting, trying to schedule and,
planning we were ready to go. I was fortunate to have Christina, another health
volunteer come to my site for the two weeks of the HEARTH which made things a
lot easier. As day 1 arrived, we got ready to weigh all the kids. The midwives
were going to go to each group and weigh all the kids. However, we did not
anticipate that the women would get to the courtyard early, and thus finish
early. So, even though we had left earlier than the start time we still got to
one group after the kids had already eaten and because of that- couldn’t weigh
them. We decided to weigh them the second day instead. Aside from that, the
first day went pretty well. Christina and I decided to go to 1 group per day,
meaning that we could visit each group 4 times and we would have a chance to
bond (in moore because none of the mothers spoke French)with the mothers and
the kids. Predictably, some of the kids were scared to the point of tears, and
others just screamed, turned and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
Some regarded us with indifference (though those were primarily the
malnourished ones). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And for 12 days that was our schedule. Wake up super early,
head to a courtyard, hang out with moms and kids, take some pictures, give
health advice, leave- and then watch Dexter or Castle (both pretty decent
shows). Every other afternoon we had a meeting with the leaders explaining the
recipes and sensibilization topics for the next two days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also found time to plan a mural and tell a guy to cement
a wall (picture a condom saying “make it so” with the insignia from Star Trek:
The Next Generation), to try to plant trees (we showed up but no one else did),
and to try and start a correspondence program between herbal medicine doctors
in the states and those here in Burkina Faso. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of the 12 days, we weighed all the kids again and after reviewing the data we found that, on average kids gained 513 grams (roughly a pound). Which means that, mathematically, it was a complete success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was recently asked to see if we were going to do the
project again- because the peace corps wants to video the whole thing. I would
like to do it again, I just don’t know if people will want to be paid again. I
certainly hope not because 1) I disagree with paying someone to get involved in
their own betterment and 2) Where is the money going to come from?</div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-85578442953292583932013-03-09T03:44:00.001-08:002013-03-09T03:44:26.012-08:00I ran half of a marathon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
No, not a half marathon, half of a marathon. And it came
about in a bit of an odd way. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Things here in Burkina Faso aren’t like things in the US
(duh) but here it’s common to not know something is happening until the day
before or the day of an event. Luckily, I found out about this event a week in
advance mainly because I happened to be in the capitol city and saw the flyers
plastered everywhere. Apparently Coris Bank decided to celebrate themselves for
a week and would finish off the festivities with a marathon that started at 6AM
and would lead runners to all of the Coris Bank branches in Ouaga. Since I am
already training for a marathon (May) and I was going to be in the city the
weekend of the marathon I sat down with my running buddy (David)and asked, “Do
you want to run a marathon next Sunday?” To which he replied, “Absolutely!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And with that, our brilliant plan was born. With David who
had run a 100km race and myself who had never run further than 10 miles we
thought it would be a pretty awesome idea. So, we looked up important things
like, how much to hydrate (a fair amount), what to eat the night before (pasta
is good), and whether it was a good idea to take laxatives before the race so
we didn’t have to go mid-race (it’s not). But with a week left to go before our
marathon debut we were feeling confident, successful, and that the only thing
left to do was actually run the race which was more of a formality anyway. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 24 hours after our premature feeling of triumph we
decided that running a full marathon was not a good idea and that the risk of
hurting ourselves was just too high at that point in time. So we decided to run
half which is really the perfect amount. Not too far that you get tired, but
enough so that you feel accomplished. With the total amount of running that we
had to do divided by two, we were back to feeling good.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next week was a whirlwind of training that involved a
lot of running, a fair amount of abs, quite a few push-ups, and not a small
amount of biking. The hardest part was putting together a playlist and figuring
out where the marathon started (we thought we had a pretty solid idea). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally the day before our event came and we celebrated by
making some awesome lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. Over the course of this
we met another volunteer, Zach, who actually is a runner and when he figured
out we were carbo-loading he asked what it was for and once he heard we were
running 13.1 miles he immediately said, “I’m in.” Add to this a fourth volunteer
who, when we heard what we were doing, promptly saved all of our lives by
volunteering to bike alongside us with water, homemade granola bars (we made
those), our wallets, and cell phones. Pat was the man of the hour. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 4:45AM the next morning we were up, dressed, and trying
to make sure that we would not have any digestive trouble over the next few
hours. Since neither David nor myself knew how long this was going to take or
even where we were going we didn’t want any unexpected surprises. At 4:50AM we
were outside climbing into a cab with our two new members to the team, and at
5:20 we were pulling up to a Bank of Africa and telling the cab driver, “This
isn’t Coris Bank.” We made it eventually though and we registered, went to the
bathroom one more time and were ready to go at 6AM on the dot. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, the race was not ready to go and we hung around
making jokes, listening to music, and looking at other people’s running shoes
(Nike Frees, boat shoes, tevas, and flip flops). Eventually around 6:40 someone
fired the gun and we were off!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of the Burkinabe promptly took off like a group of
collective bats out of hell. And while the seasoned runner on our team took off
as well, we had expected that. Finally David and I had been passed by nearly
everyone and we were holding at the end of the pack. The logic of this move was
that everyone else would tire out after a mile or two and when they did we
would slowly and steadily start kicking some butt. And as we pressed on we
occasionally passed people who would promptly start sprinting to pass us again.
We did start a system of passing people on either side and once we passed them
David and I would double high five, a move we called the “Eiffel tower”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, the race kept on, we kept Eiffel towering, the sun kept
climbing, the playlist kept playing, and… “Wait, was that an aid station?” Pat,
David and I were all visibly floored by the presence of water, bananas,
oranges, and sponges along with a sign that said congratulations you’ve gone
5km! Well splendid, we quickly found out that we did not need all the water we
had bought nor the granola bars. But Pat stayed with us anyway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not long after this, a pair of policemen on a motorcycle
came up to us and said, “You’re going to want to speed up a little.” We thought
we had been doing a pretty good job. We were moving at a comfortable pace, we
were passing people, and people had been cheering for us as we ran by; yet,
here were these two police officers saying “get your butts in gear.” With a
brief look behind us to confirm that we could not see any runners behind us
(they had either slowed way down and started walking or dropped out already) we
sped up and tried to run down the next guy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As time went on we ran on main roads, and police officers
were there stopping traffic. We often ran by giving them high-fives, cheering
at intersections, and motivating the runners we passed. Though something about
being passed by two white guys who couldn’t stop cheering “Whoooooooo” at
intersections and high-fiving must have been so demoralizing because everybody
we passed ended up quitting. We were having a lot of fun though. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally we ended up hitting 13.1 miles after an hour and 45
minutes. Zach was already waiting for us but David and I had surpassed our goal
time and were feeling awesome that we had actually run half of a marathon. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then went and played in the annual softball tournament to
nicely round out the day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The marathon in May will probably be a lot hotter but, it’s
only what we did plus an extra 13.1 miles. Game on.</div>
<br /></div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-68808234551719511532013-02-02T00:07:00.001-08:002013-02-02T00:08:28.346-08:00What I've Been Doing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess a good question to answer is- after being on
vacation what does a Volunteer do at the beginning of the second year? And, the
answer to that is: much the same as I was doing the first year. The most
frustrating aspect is that before I went to go work at PST (training) I had
wrapped up all my projects, and then I went home; so, when I got back to site
and I started to think about projects again (that took a couple days) my first
thought was, “What was I working on?” But seriously, it’s really easy to lose
momentum on things you weren’t quite sure what you were doing. But, as I’ve
been able to reconstruct my projects in progress so far:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Tree Planting: Ironically, the project that I’ve
scoffed at the most seems to be the one I’m poised to make the most progress
on. I don’t understand it either. But, my counterpart is pretty motivated to do
this (I think tree planting might be part of his yearly quota as well) and we’re
already well on our way to getting seeds, dirt, sand, and compost. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->It’s Condom Time- and HIV/AIDS mural: This
project came as a joke until I figured out that it was actually within the
realm of possibilities. It basically consists of the Power Rangers holding
different condom brands and saying, “It’s condom time!” I tried to think of
something involving Captain Picard but I’m not quite sure if, “Make it so”
translates well. This would involve some sensibilizations about preventing
HIV/AIDS and using family planning methods as well.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->World Map- The principal at the middle
school/high school in my village had a peace corps volunteer once upon a time
who made a huge world map on a building, and he wants to do the same thing
here. I told him that if he found the money (preferably by asking the
Parent/student organization), I’d get the mural painted. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Classes at the middle school/high school about
health topics- Pretty self explanatory. Those don’t require much planning- I
just need a schedule of when to show up. But it’ll probably be talking about
things like family planning, malaria prevention, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Classes at elementary schools- like the preceding
project idea. Only a little more simplistic. Probably more hygiene and less sex
related. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->CPR- This is actually turning into an incredibly
frustrating project despite its incredibly simplistic idea. It also went from
completely free to really expensive in the blink of an eye thanks to a rule
that I’m not even sure applies in this case. However, we’re moving along a
little bit at a time.<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Every 3 or 4 months I have to
write this up for the Peace Corps anyway- but this is a little more
entertaining. Copy and Paste: here I come!</span></div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-22516825898979699802013-01-03T17:22:00.003-08:002013-01-03T17:22:26.467-08:00Vacation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As luck would have it, the airline confusion did not end
with my last blog post and we found ourselves flying into JFK with poor weather
conditions and…late. This means that we missed our gate spot and since planes
were slow in taking off we spent a lot of time flying around in circles over
Long Island. But once we landed, I was pretty much waved through every
checkpoint. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, my parents brought a jacket to New York! And, while
it was not very cold when we first got to New York, it was definitely rainy
which I thought was awesome. And,
what’s even more awesome is how many people made their way to the airport to
find me- even two very special friends who had taken a bus all the way from
Boston just to be there and, a little puppy too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop on the way home was, a diner. I hadn’t had
blueberry pancakes in a while so we decided to stop at a place where everyone
had something they liked- salads, sandwiches, pancakes, etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At home, I have been able to reconnect with friends both old
and new and experience meals that aren’t really in Burkina (and drinks too). I
also had the opportunity to go to a swim meet to watch my youngest brother
race, and then see him at one of his practices too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although, I have to say prices here are ridiculous. After
Burkina Faso where you can live comfortable on a dollar a day I found myself
thinking that paying $8 for a sandwich (even one as good as a Buffalo Chicken
wrap) was a bit ridiculous. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As are malls during the holidays; I wasn’t a big frequenter
of malls before I left but I have been hanging around with my brother a bunch
so we ended up going once or twice and whoa it’s an experience and a half. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I digress- the weather is awesome. It has been sunny and
cold, windy and sunny, cold and cloudy, rainy, etc. And, I’ve enjoyed all of
the combinations mainly because they aren’t sunny and 90 degrees. It has snowed
twice since I’ve been home and I don’t think anyone has ever enjoyed shoveling
more, especially when you accidently throw the snow into the wind and it blows
back in your face. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the holidays were great too. I enjoyed seeing all of my
family, and eating dinner with them, cleaning, and yes, a little bit of
bickering too. It’s odd to think that next Christmas I’ll be back again with
another batch of stories and a year older. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, three weeks moves pretty fast when you get down to it
so on Tuesday I’ll be heading back to Burkina Faso for my last year of service.
With health projects such as CPR, family planning, and everything else in
between (even tree planting), it is sure to be an activity filled year (I hope).</div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-67028992738117838032013-01-03T16:57:00.002-08:002013-01-03T16:57:25.079-08:00I'm on a Plane<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I decided to take a vacation. After two months of training
and 12 months of service I figured that it would be nice to spend the holiday
season with my family back home. While the plan itself was simple enough
(request vacation days, get aforementioned vacation days approved, purchase
plane tickets, and make it to the airport on time) the actual execution was a
bit more difficult. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first step was actually pretty easy, I spoke to my major
about how I was going to go home for vacation and he was all about me going to
the US (he hadn’t been back to his village for a while either so we were on the
same page about wanting to see your parents, family, etc.) So he signed my
paperwork saying that I had informed him that I was going to disappear for a
period of 3 weeks. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately we both wrote in black pen. Apparently this
was an error because after you copy a form the ink is…black. Meaning you can’t
tell whether a form has been copied or whether it’s waiting to be copied, or
whatnot. This did not help in the accomplishment of step 2. But, step 3 went
pretty smoothly. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step 4 is a story in and of itself but suffice to say an
activity that I was participating in was pushed back 24 hours while my plane
schedule did not. So rather than having 24 hours to go back to site, pack up my
stuff, say goodbye to people and tell them that I was, in fact, coming back I
only had 2 hours to accomplish the same thing. But I was unable to find my
Major or the Doctor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As luck would have it, I was on the same plane as two other
volunteers who had just finished their service, so we all got to hang out in
the airport together and ask ourselves, “Our tickets say the plane leaves at
2:35 AM, why is the airline saying it leaves at 12:50AM?” Turns out it was a
communication error on behalf of the airline and that we were, in fact, leaving
at 2:35AM. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plane ride pretty smoothly all things considered. As
someone with relatively short legs I don’t often find myself in need of extra
legroom but it is actually quite awesome in this case. The food was really good
though I’m not sure if that’s a result of my standards going down or the
airline standards increasing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And, while there was no in-flight movie (really noticeable
on an 8 hour flight), thanks to a friend in the Peace Corps- I was able to
watch The Amazing Spider-Man (apparently that came out), and the new Batman
movie (I did know about that one).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So now I’m on a plane, flying over Nova Scotia at 34,000
feet, staring at what I think is ice, and hoping that someone brings me a
jacket when I get to New York. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-81783011853463908622012-11-10T09:41:00.001-08:002012-11-10T09:41:09.866-08:00PST (again)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This time last year I was at stage (the French word) or PST
(the Peace Corps acronym- which stands for Pre-Service Training). This year I’m
at the same training but in a different capacity. I am a PCVFP (Peace Corps
Volunteer Facilitator Permanent) for this new training group. Basically this
means that I helped design the training calendar and figured out what the
sessions would look like, etc. I also get to spend three weeks with the new
stage working with them and helping them as they go through nine weeks of
training. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess it’s best to back up and start at the beginning.
Sometime in the middle of September I went to Ouaga for three days with two
other PCVFPs (we’re three in total) and met with my direct supervisor, and the
technical trainers to go over the health program. A week or so later we went to
Leo (a village in Burkina Faso and pronounced lay-oh) with all of the PCVFs
(Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitators), tech trainers, language trainers, and all
the supervisors of the programs to participate in a week long training about
Peace Corps policies, what and what not to do/ say around the trainees, and to
plan the actual sessions- who would say what, how long each session is going to
take, etc. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The process, while straightforward and not conceptually difficult
actually was slightly challenging. First of all trying to follow standards set
by somebody in a country 4,000 miles away- who isn’t actually in the country is
difficult. Also knowing what you’re going to say and the supplies you’re going
to need sometimes two months before you need them is tough too. Also, the
lesson plans are being standardized but they’re still supposed to be unique and
reflect the situation in that particular country. Not that those are inherent
contradictions but still, it can require some finagling and creativity because
you want the sessions to be informative but also entertaining otherwise people
aren’t going to listen and take something away from the session. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps the best part of the TOT (training of trainers) was
seeing how invested the members of the bureau (Peace Corps office) were
invested into the program. Everybody wanted the trainees to succeed but just
seeing how above and beyond the staff were willing to go (especially the
language trainers and the technical trainers) was amazing, and really energized
me as well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the first time that PST will be in Leo. I did my
training in Sapone (as well as the stage before and after me). Needless to say
I think the Peace Corps got pretty comfortable there. Leo is a little bigger
than Sapone with more widespread access to electricity. At the same time there
are more material items that you can buy which is a bonus for the trainees.
Also, there’s a pool. You can imagine which one I’m most ecstatic about. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
bad news is that you don’t get paid a whole lot during training so in reality
you can’t often enjoy all of this- especially when you’re in class from 8AM to
5:15PM. But it makes the weekends nice I’d imagine. </div>
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Right now, you’re probably thinking something along the lines
of, “If the trainees have all of these amenities, won’t it be more difficult if
they get affectated (posted) to a small village where there isn’t such easy
access to such things?” And yes, but the trainees aren’t living in Leo- they
are split up into three smaller training villages (for lack of a better term).
Two villages for the health and one village for DABA (think agriculture and
kind of/maybe/sort of business). They live with host families in this village
and then bike the 10 or 14 kilometers into Leo almost every day. This might
seem daunting at first but hopefully gets easier as time goes on. For a point
of reference I biked roughly 7 kilometers to get to my training center and that
was one of the longer bike rides for the trainees in my group. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, now I’m in Leo again. A month after that training (TOT),
a month after the trainees arrived, and right in the middle of things. All in
all, it’s a good place to be. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-33664340004440353982012-11-10T09:30:00.005-08:002012-11-10T09:30:57.496-08:00Fonctionnaires<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Burkina Faso has civil servants just like any other country-
and the professions encompass nurses, doctors, teachers, etc. Usually, any
profession requiring some type of special higher education is going to be a fonctionnaire
profession and the individual will most likely be employed by the government.
The civil servant system is very much like the Peace Corps system- you go where
they send you. They call it “affectation” or, an appointment/ posting.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The way the system was explained to me was that somebody is
posted to a region, the region then sorts through the candidates and decides
who goes where. That decision is then brought to the mayor of the commune
(county-ish)/ village and if the person is okayed- the process moves forward
where the mayor tells the district, the district tells the old district that
was responsible for the person, and then the note gets posted that they have
been reassigned. </div>
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<br /></div>
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If you’re talking about a new fonctionnaire- someone who
hasn’t had a post before it’s really easy- they just pick up their stuff and
go. But, if you’re leaving your old site to go to a new one that means that
your replacement has to show up, before you can leave, and that could take a
while. And, that creates some issues as well because as a fonctionnaire you
don’t know when your replacement is coming so you pack up your house and get
rid of your stuff bit by bit but you don’t want to get rid of too much because
what happens if your replacement doesn’t show up for two months, but you don’t
want to send too little because what happens if he/she shows up tomorrow? Just
food for thought.</div>
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<br /></div>
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From the perspective of a Peace Corps volunteer this is a
double edged sword in almost the truest sense of the word. Say for example
there’s someone you have a difficult time working with- if they get reposted
you don’t have to work with them anymore and there’s the potential that the
next person will be easier to work with and, if they’re difficult to work with-
the status quo hasn’t really changed. However, if you have an awesome person to
work with- someone who speaks local language better than you do for example, or
someone who knows everybody in the village, or somebody who is just really good
with people, is open to new ideas, and is willing to expand their own horizons-
well that can be kind of sad. Because you don’t get to work with this awesome
person anymore and it’s tough. So you can hope that the process gets delayed
and the replacement doesn’t get immediate permission to go because their replacement
hasn’t showed up yet but, once the reposting assignment is posted well,
resistance is futile. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As you might imagine, my CSPS is losing three people. One is
going to Ouagadougou, and two are going to Koudougou. And, I’ll just have to
wait and see if any of the nurses who are coming in are as cool as the nurses
that are going out. But, maybe it’ll be the same thing for them when I leave
next year. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-70079946596938123412012-11-02T07:11:00.002-07:002012-11-02T07:11:43.430-07:00Bike Tour does Poa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few weeks ago (and by that I mean the middle of September) bike tour came to my site. This begs the obvious question of, “what is bike tour?” and well it’s a tour, of Burkina Faso, on bikes. More specifically, it’s a fundraising opportunity for the Gender and Development Committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They biked all around Burkina figuring out what sunscreen SPF works best, what type of roads are harder to bike on than others, and which volunteer has the best latrine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When my site figured out they were coming they got really excited about it. They decided that they would convene all the village leaders to welcome the other volunteers. We also decided to do a sensibilization with them- which I decided was going to be neem cream. Neem cream is a skin cream made from soap, shea butter, and neem leaves (which have a natural chemical in them that repels mosquitos). And, there’s a group at my site who wanted to learn how to make it (and then sell it) for a while but every time I would set up a meeting for them to learn, they wouldn’t show up. I figured the chance of them showing up would be higher when there were going to be other volunteers around…and I was right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, there are lots of things you can predict in Burkina Faso- the heat, the fact that it probably won’t rain again until next June, and that’s just to name two. One thing you can’t predict is when a group of volunteers biking from the opposite side of Ouagadougou will make it to your site. That’s why it’s good to know people. When the time that the bikers were supposed to show up came…and went I stopped by the bus station and asked the guy who runs the station (Wad) to call down the road and see if anybody had seen the bikers. He did, and he actually had to call quite a few people before he found them. Each conversation kind of sounded like this (translated of course), “Hey, what’s up? It’s Wad, yea, Poa. Anyway, have you seen 8 foreigners biking through your town wearing funny helmets? No, alright well when you see them call me.” So, after we found them, we were kept informed by a steady stream of phone calls saying when the bikers had passed certain villages. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once they reached Poa we went back to my house, everybody dropped off their stuff, and we went to meet the CSPS staff and the village leaders. They decided to speak only in moore so that I could translate for the volunteers (they really like doing that when other people are around). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After that the neem cream demonstration actually went really well and now the organization that is responsible for paying the CSPS bills will be able to supplement their income and will not be in danger of having to declare bankruptcy anytime in the near future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The chief (chef) gave us a goat, and then we ate some rice- and everybody was pretty tired so we all just kind of went to bed after. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next day it actually decided to rain so the departure of the bike tour was postponed a bit but in the end, they made it out alright and they biked the 55km to the next village. </span></div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-75654857486271486922012-10-07T00:16:00.002-07:002012-10-07T00:16:39.460-07:00Yippee ki-yay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Life is all about balance. Work and play, exercise and rest,
speaking French and speaking English…Well, it’s the same about life at site. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spend too long at site and your productivity drops a little
because you get a little tired of village life, or no one is around to work
with you because their all in the fields, or because you run out of ideas for
projects and you just can’t think of anything. </div>
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<br /></div>
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However if you don’t spend enough time at site people there might
think you left, might have forgotten about projects you were doing, might have
forgotten that they were supposed to do something for you- or all of the above.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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It might sound hard to believe but after a hiatus from site,
it’s actually really nice to be back. Everybody knows you, your house is there
(hopefully), and after spending time with volunteers (or away) you’re ready to
accomplish something. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And this was most definitely the case with me. Call it a “game
on” mantra, or a “yippee ki-yay” type thing. But I was definitely ready to get
stuff done. </div>
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<br /></div>
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My first two days back at site included a lot of music and a
lot of cleaning. Because I wasn’t there to fight the good fight- termites had
succeeded in sealing my doors to their frames and starting to make a go at the
walls. Luckily me and my can of insecticide (technology) shifted the balance of
that particular skirmish. All in all, the results of me being away from site
weren’t that bad. Just some dust to sweep out, some laundry to wash, and some
buckets to bleach. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There was also some difficulty in getting to my house
because the weeds, herbs, millet, a bit of corn, all blocked the way down my
path because, well, I hadn’t been there in a while to weed it (or to encourage
others to weed it). Luckily, the COGES president (and my moore tutor) came by
that afternoon with a really sharp machete and took care of it. Along with a
pretty amusing anecdote: in rainy season people have to tether their animals so
they don’t ruin all of the crops. But, they have to have food around so that
they don’t get hungry. Well, some enterprising child saw I wasn’t there and
left his bull in my courtyard so he could eat the weeds and such, and because
there was a wall, he wouldn’t be able to get out. My neighbor saw this kid and
apparently said, “Hey! Get out of Andre’s courtyard! If Ablasse (my moore
tutor) sees you there, oh boy is he gonna be pissed.” I thought it was funny
and pretty creative on behalf of the child. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He also introduced me to the most interesting mossi proverb
I’ve heard so far. Translating it, it goes a little like this, “If somebody
leaves, you shouldn’t clean his courtyard when he’s gone because you never know
when he’s going to come back, but when he does come back, you have to go over
and clean their courtyard.” It really does make a lot of sense as far as
proverbs go. Why clean someone’s courtyard if you have to go back and do it every
day because they haven’t come back yet? Or, why do it if all the weeds are just
going to grow back and then look like you didn’t do anything at all? Although,
I especially liked the part about their being a responsibility to helping your
neighbor make their courtyard tidy when they returned. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Going back to work was much as I had left it- though quite
busier with a higher incidence of malaria. All the nurses had (basically) the
same reaction, “Andre! You’re back. Boy, it’s not been easy without you!” Not
the best thing ever but, it meant that I most definitely wasn’t bored those
first few days. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In short, it was awesome to be back at site- with the desire
to see my friends, some ideas for projects, a lot of motivation, and a “game on”
mantra. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-89410062765276611172012-10-06T15:21:00.002-07:002012-10-06T15:21:24.134-07:00Science Camp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The first week in September I participated in a Science Camp
that was held in Koudougou and was organized by Peace Corps volunteers. And
yes, I do realize that I’ve fallen a little behind on blogging. The camp had a
focus on the scientific method, creative thinking, and problem solving. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, why might volunteers want to do this? The education
system in Burkina Faso is based around copying (from the board or dictation)
and memorization. It’s very “know-what” oriented. The other skills such as
“know-how”, “know-who”, and “know-why” aren’t emphasized at all. This makes it
hard to take an example and extend it to other situations in life such as
doubling a recipe.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My role in science camp was a bit hard to define. First of
all, I was the community liason. It was my job to know where to go to get
certain things, it was my job to talk to people and make them like us, and it
was my job to get things that other people wanted. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I also taught the Astronomy classes at the camp.
Unfortunately most of the nights were cloudy and rainy but, one of the nights
we were able to get a hold of a telescope and spent an hour and a half staring
at stars with 40 kids. Someone asked a question about the apocalypse, someone
asked if you could really slingshot around the sun to attempt time travel (Star
Trek IV: The Voyage Home), and if going through a black hole really meant that
you would go back in time. We also talked about the North Star, the importance
of stars, and being able to navigate by them, why the moon changes frequently,
and what makes a celestial object a celestial object (planet vs. star, star vs
moon, planet vs star, etc). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And last, but not least, I worked with a nurse to take care of
the sick and injured kids at the camp. I was also able to use this opportunity
to teach the kids about health things like what a pulse is, how to take it, and
the same thing with temperature and how a thermometer works, etc. Very
interesting time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the camp, volunteers and their homologues planned
sessions around: chemistry, physics, biology- anything that involved being able
to touch, feel, see, hear, and above all think critically about. The kids were
then tasked to plan their own science fair. Another volunteer and I helped with
a group of kids who wanted to examine water under a microscope. They examined
filtered water, pump water, and regular water from a barrage to see which had
the greatest quantity of microbes and bacteria in it. Luckily, I had scooped
some seriously gross barrage water and the bacteria was everywhere! And the
kids said, “people drink that?” Which, was super cool because now the kids know
what lives in barrage water and how there is so much less bacteria, microbes,
etc in pump water and filtered water (what PCVs drink). </div>
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The camp culminated in a science fair where all the groups
presented their experiments and their findings, along with how they used the
scientific method along the way. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It was interesting to see how Burkinabe kids reacted to a
new way of learning- because the reception was so overwhelmingly positive. It
was the same with the Burkinabe teachers reacting to a new way of teaching-
most received the information and skills in a positive manner and really wanted
to try it at their own skills with different experiments to help explain
different concepts.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hopefully, the science camp will continue to be a part of
the summer activities for Peace Corps volunteers. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-34651534744280307362012-10-06T13:16:00.002-07:002012-10-06T13:16:55.447-07:00Parking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Parking is a hassle, finding a space, making sure your car
can fit into the space, and then making sure it’s reasonably secure so that no
one will double park you or park too close to your car. Invariably one of these
fails and you end up getting into the driver’s seat through the passenger door
or something equally inconvenient. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How could it be worse, you ask? Well not finding a parking
spot could be an issue. But, I think that having to pay for parking takes the
cake. Parking meters, parking attendants, those little automatic parking
scanners that act sort of like a <i>Fast
Pass</i> all help make sure that nobody forgets that parking is no longer free.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things I never considered when coming to Burkina
Faso was parking. I figured well I’m going to be on a bike, in Burkina Faso-
who would charge for parking there? Oh boy was I wrong. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As it turns out, parking attendant is one of the most
popular jobs in Burkina Faso. You show up at a building, and somebody takes
your bike, and gives you a piece of paper, then “protects your bike”. This usually
involves sitting on a bench, drinking tea, and chatting. Then when you leave
you have to give the guy 50 FCFA (10 cents) for guarding your bike. There is no
choice because even if you don’t give the guy your bike he will STILL charge
you for the parking. But, all in all, you do what you have to do, and when you
get back you know your bike is going to be there. It’s not too big a deal
unless you don’t have change; in which case, it becomes a huge issue.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What gets me is that the attendants also want to be paid for
the work when they’re not there. When I was working at the American Language
Center, this exact situation happened to a friend and I. We had gone to a
bakery to get breakfast one day and since we had been going there for a while
we knew the parking guy. He wasn’t there so we just left our bikes, walked
inside, ate breakfast, and when we came out we grabbed our bikes the parking
guy comes running up and told us to pay him for the parking. We explained that
he was not there so we shouldn’t have to pay for the parking, and yes we knew
he wasn’t there because the entire front of the bakery was made out of glass.
So he told us all about how he had something happen at his house and he couldn’t
get there on time, etc. We didn’t want to feel like jerks so we paid him- told
him that if it happened again we wouldn’t pay him (because why would you expect
to get paid for a job you didn’t do?) and we continued on our way. </div>
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A couple days later the same thing happened. He asked us to
pay him, we explained the situation to him again, and we reiterated that if it
happened again we wouldn’t pay. We strongly considered not paying but part of
the Peace Corps mission is to prove that Americans are cool, awesome, benevolent
and we thought to squabble about 20 cents would be a little ridiculous. </div>
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<br /></div>
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A few days later we went back to the bakery and the same
thing happened. Again. This time, however, he came running up, saw who it was
and just said, “See you tomorrow, right?” He then explained to us that he wasn’t
there to do the work so he didn’t really expect to get paid, but he thought it
was really nice how we talked to him each day and that tomorrow he would be
there on time. And he was. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was pretty awesome seeing that much behavior change
within the span of four weeks. If only all my planned projects went that well. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-15408402455257149872012-08-15T10:20:00.000-07:002012-08-15T10:20:42.991-07:00ALC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m spending the month of August working at the American
Language Center (ALC) in Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkina Faso. I’m working
with 20 kids or so by helping them learn, and practice English. The program is
organized kind of like school where there are 7 classes that meet 5 times a
week between 8 and 12:30. The 7 classes mean that there are 7 Peace Corps
Volunteers helping out and each volunteer is assigned to a class which meets
between 8 and 10 everyday. Our roles vary by class but I pronounce words (so
the students can learn how an American pronounces things), correct grammar
exercises, explain tricky grammar rules, and occasionally translate French
words to English and vice-versa. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The PCV’s are actually in charge of the “camp” portion of
the program- which runs from 10:30AM-12:30PM. This is supposed to still have
the general idea of learning to speak, and practicing English but is more camp
oriented- songs, games, etc. We have designated this month to be the English
Olympics and it’s built around pillars that are similar to those of the actual
Olympics. They are: excellence and individualism, respect and diversity, teamwork,
and community engagement. So, all of our ideas are tied into those themes which
all relate back to the Olympics. Is it the most original idea? Nope. But, does
it work? Yep.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ALC is a really interesting experience in that it’s really
the first thing I’ve done in this country that has been mostly in English. All
of the other teachers speak to us in English; the idea of the camp is to speak
in English and to use a minimal amount of French, and the type of kids I’ve
been working with is different than the type of kids I normally see in village.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all, the emphasis on English makes it more
difficult to bring in Moore when I find myself in a situation that requires it
(which isn’t that often here). But I will go back to my site at some point in
time where I will definitely have to put in a lot of time practicing and
studying (before I leave again). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, the grammar mistakes that the teachers make (various
tenses, etc) create kind of an awkward situation, especially in front of the
kids. Do you stand up, and say, “That’s actually not right”? Or, do you just
let the mistake go and risk the kids picking it up? Either way it makes for an
interesting conundrum.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next huge difference is the kids. In the past, I have
worked with kids who really want to be there, and are incredibly interested in
learning what I have to teach, and usually it’s in a pretty fun medium (say for
example, water). The first mistake is thinking that these individuals are
actually kids. My class ranges from 13 years old to 21 years old (almost as old
as I am). So the normal things that kids like don’t really apply here. They don’t
really get into the games; they just care about winning- though to win, you
have to get into it. They also don’t really want to be there, and who can blame
them? It’s the equivalent of summer school. And, speaking English isn’t very
high on their to do list- so about 100 times a day I have to remind them to
speak English and that speaking French, contrary to popular belief, will not
help them learn English. These are primarily wealthier kids who have laptops
(including one with a macbook air, several with iphones, and a ridiculous
amount with their own motos), and the differences between the socio-economic
classes are staggering. Here, a wave will not make a kid’s day, and kids will
not want to follow you around while you run, they will not be quiet when you
talk for the sole reason that you are talking.</div>
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But I am learning things about teaching, about what I can
do, about what appeals to kids, and how to handle a ridiculous range of
maturity levels in a single classroom. And, am I having to think about why
certain English rules are and why you never, ever end a sentence with a
preposition? Oh yea. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good way to spend a month? Most definitely. </div>
</div>
Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-44643602773897233642012-08-10T15:40:00.002-07:002012-08-10T15:40:49.554-07:00Camps and Other Extracurricular Activities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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Seeing as how it’s rainy season, there isn’t a whole lot to
do at site. Most days, most people are in the fields working hard and don’t
have time to listen to me prattle on about health topics. Also, it’s summer
vacation so kids aren’t really in school. This is the optimum time to do kid oriented
projects such as camps (which is something we are mandated to do as part of
Peace Corps: Burkina Faso).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here in Burkina Faso, we have lots of camps: coaching for
hope (playing soccer and learning about HIV/AIDS), G2LOW (Guys and girls
leading our world), ALC (American Language Center), Science camp (this is in
September), and I’m sure there are a lot more. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Camps are a nice change of pace and a way to interact with
other volunteers and pick up their styles of doing things- basically a group
learning process, and a much coveted opportunity to speak in English. Also, they’re
a great change of pace and activity style. For example, education volunteers
can help with health projects, and see how health volunteers give a health
sensibilization. Health volunteers can teach students about astronomy or English
and see what it is like to manage 40 kids at once while trying to stick to an
agenda. And, everybody can enjoy playing the role of camp counselor. So, camps
are awesome, right? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, the answer is both yes and no. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the catch-22: doing a camp is a great way to share
skills and help out the country. But you’re not in your village- and the village
is the entire reason that you’re here. This means that there is an incredibly
fine line between doing camps and such to enrich your service, while still
being at site enough to be productive in your village. A lot of the weight of
finding this balance is placed on the individual volunteer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My problem is this: I love my site, and I would actually prefer
not to leave. Now that’s not in the I’m-a-shut-in-and-just-want-to-sit-in-my-house
way but more of a
I-feel-most-effective-at-my-site-and-I-have-a-good-working-relationship-with-everybody
way. I’ve been at site for 8 months now, so it’s a very interesting thought to
think that I’m going to go an entire month without being in Poa (my village).
Hopefully, my absence will inspire people to want to act because I have been
there helping out with things for a while and now I’m gone- meaning that they
can have a clearer idea of what I’m there to do, what I can help with, and
other things like that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, the opposite problem is this: there are some people who
absolutely hate their sites. This can be due to any number of factors: people,
bad workplace relationships, bad living situation- you name it, I’m going to
guess it’s happened. This means that the chance to do camps offers an escape
from site. While this isn’t exactly bad- but, it is hard to get stuff going in
your village, if you’re gone for two weeks, come back for three days, gone for
a week, back for a week, gone for two weeks, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess what I have to say about camps and other
extracurricular activities boils down to this: they’re awesome. Learn as much
as you can, and enjoy it as much as possible. But don’t forget the reason why
you’re here- take everything you learn, see, and accomplish…and bring it back
to your village and share it with everyone else. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-10261909371741198382012-07-20T11:07:00.001-07:002012-07-20T11:07:20.150-07:00Rain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whenever I think about rain I think about the Family Guy
episode where Weatherman Ollie Williams says, “It’s gonna rain!” or “It’s
raining sideways”. So here we are in rainy season and I find myself looking up
at the sky and thinking, “It’s gonna rain!” Let’s just say that working at a
beach has given me a very acute sense of when it’s going to rain. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, the rain brings big changes to Poa (my village).
First of all, everything is starting to get green. The trees and bushes that
have been dead-ish for the past 7 months are most definitely not dead now.
There are little rivers that trickle during the day, and right after it rains
are somewhat reminiscent of the flash flood scene in 127 Hours. Also, it’s really awesome being able to sleep
comfortably at night. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another one of the big changes is that everyone is in the
fields. The way it used to be was that everyone was around all the time (again
with a village comprised of for the most part subsistence farmers, when it’s
too dry to plant, what else are you going to do?). Now, it’s almost like a
ghost village in the morning (CSPS patient numbers are down at the moment), it
slightly lightens up during the repose (nap time), and then drops slightly
during the evening, only to pick up again (slightly) at night. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It also messes with attendance at things like baby
weighings, and other meetings, and if it was a consistent change that would be
okay and easy to deal with but it’s an inconsistent change. Sometimes people
show up, and sometimes they don’t with little rhyme or reason, and the pattern
is expected to continue throughout rainy season (which will go until the rain
stops where it will start being cold season again).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This year the rainy season came a bit late (and by a bit I
mean a solid month). Put together with the past two rainy seasons being less
than spectacular this had some people worried, but now that it is solidly here
people are cautiously optimistic and are saying “ca va aller”. It should be
pretty smooth sailing unless the rainy season ends early.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But rain means, things are green, things get wet, things
leak, and it is awesome. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-5658186439673200402012-07-17T10:01:00.002-07:002012-07-17T10:01:51.101-07:00Success?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
How do you define success?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s say you do something by accident, you didn’t mean to
do it but it worked out anyway, that can be a success too, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can spend weeks planning a project and have no one show
up. You can organize a meeting to help people make some money- something that
people always profess to want or need; and no one shows up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is all kind of frustrating. But this can mean one of
many things. Among them are: something came up and the person was legitimately
busy and couldn’t come (why they didn’t call is a mystery), they forgot (also
possible though forgetting something like that in less than 24 hours is hard to
believe), they’re not interested and this is a way of expressing that, and so
on and so forth. But because your job is a facilitator you say no problem, if
you still want to do it let’s reschedule. And because you’re a representative
of the United States you can’t show anger, or annoyance, or anything like that.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now you go about dealing with the frustrations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since there are no pools here (or beaches) I’ve been running
daily. It helps a bit with the frustrations of people not showing up or just
anything. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While I was running these kids showed up, and started
running with me. So we ran, and we ran, and we ran some more. The kids sat down
and took breaks but since I was running in circles anyway (I found a 400 meter
circle so it’s like running on a track), they were able to rest, catch up, and
then repeat the cycle. The kids then started emulating the push ups, crunches,
and pull ups I was doing too so we did that together. And then, we discussed
the importance of hygiene and such. So something totally unplanned, turned into
an educational experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how can something with no planning whatsoever, be more “successful”
than something I sat down and actually planned?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then it started raining and the kids disappeared, but it was
nice while it lasted. I’m sure once everything is done being planted they’ll
come back though.</div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-84539071149221496492012-07-17T08:24:00.001-07:002012-07-17T08:24:28.733-07:00Motivation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
People have different reasons for engaging in activities.
Those reasons can be selfish, they can be selfless, they can be resume
building, altruistic…you name it it’s a reason. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first time I brought up a project idea here the response
was, “what’s the motivation?” Having just arrived at site I responded, “If they
want to (do the activity).” My counterpart looked at me as if I didn’t
understand the question and then said, “If people are going to come to this
project (I think it was when I first had the CPR project idea) then they’re
going to want money to come.” I explained that the course is actually quite
costly in the US (maybe a slight exaggeration) but we would be doing it for
free and that should be the motivation in itself. He gave me this dubious look
that said, “I see where you’re coming from but I’m not sure other people will.”
So we decided that if we got the support of the higher up agencies (those
responsible for the nurses, teachers, etc) then maybe the motivation issue
wouldn’t pose that much of an issue. Since
then the project has been shelved indefinitely until I can find another way to
approach the entire idea. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the underlying problem remains the same. Being a
volunteer without financial resources making an effort to work without
financial resources in a capitalistic society built mainly around subsistence
agriculture is a tough job. The way I see it is this, if I’m giving two years
of my time to be here, and not make any money, then you can give up an hour of
your time to learn a skill that will help you for years down the road. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To get people to do what you want them to do usually
involves some ego stroking, telling them they’re special, and that they can really
help. For example, for my exponential hygiene project (30 people teach 10
families each about personal hygiene) I worked with the centers of
alphabetization (teaching people to read and write in moore) because well,
these people can read and write to some degree, and the lessons covered in the
moore books (yea, I read them too) deal with hygiene (like don’t pee in the
well you get your water from). So I went to the groups, told them that everyone
in the village respected them because they could read and write and because
they were motivated, etc. It was most definitely true, but it also helped to
get my point across. I also mentioned that because I’m a foreigner if I go
around saying things people will listen but not necessarily adopt because I’m
different and I don’t know how life really is here (and it’s true I’ve been
here for 9 months- not 20 years). So by telling people that I can’t do this but
they can- really helps people get going.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, you have the incredibly altruistic people
who will help you out no matter what you ask them to do, whether it be
gathering people for a meeting, helping dig a 130 meter long trench, or coming
along as a translator.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">I guess it breaks
down a little like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In different societies you have the same types of people. You
have mean spirited people, you have nice people, you have motivated people, you
have lazy people, you have happy people, you have depressed people, you have
altruistic people, you have selfish people, and the list goes on. They might
manifest themselves slightly differently but anyone that says people in the US
are way different than people in Burkina Faso or vice-versa has to look harder
because deep down, they’re not. Sure, they might have the whole not rushed,
everything will work out mentality that the US doesn’t quite have but I don’t
think that defines the people that defines a way of life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So if this rule is true, can you count on the volunteerism
and altruism of the people you’re trying to work with to aid with your projects
(without overusing the same people and creating a burn out effect)?</div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-47235362862817292652012-06-02T06:41:00.000-07:002012-06-02T06:41:08.363-07:00Campaign Season (no, not that one)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As things in France cool down (Hollande won) and things in
the US heat up (will Obama get a second term?) it has stayed ridiculously hot
here in Burkina Faso. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, on the health side of things, we’ve been doing a
variety of campaigns against various health related things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did nutrition: going door to door to find out how many
kids are malnourished in Poa (my village). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did Polio: going door to door to give polio vaccinations
to kids. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did Mebendazol and Vitamin A: going door to door to give
kids a deparasiting agent and vitamin A. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, we’re handing out albendazol and mictazine. Albendazol
is a deparasiting agent (chemically the same as mebendazol but it’s a higher
concentration and thus, for adults. Mictazine is a drug against filariose and
hydrocele, more commonly known as elephantitis. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next week looks like it’ll be trachoma but we’ll see what
happens.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My role in all this is relatively simple. I plan. I divide
the community health agents into teams, and help divide the village into manageable
areas for each team. I then divide the medicines into which group gets how many
pills, then I help explain how to give the medication and explain that if
someone refuses to call the Major or myself and we’ll come out and figure out
what the issue is (side note: this is where the color of my skin is actually a
benefit). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, not the hardest job ever. Important? Kinda. Fairly
straightforward? Absolutely. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The people who do all of the actual labor are the community
health agents who are easily overlooked in the healthcare system here and play
one of the most important roles. So they most definitely win the unsung hero
award. I’m a foreigner. The nurses and doctors are civil servants so while we’re
both here and they’re actually Burkinabe none of us really belong. This is
where the community health agents come in. They belong. They live in the
village, they were (more often than not) born in the village, and they’re well
known in the village. Some can speak French, some can’t- but it’s really no big
deal. People in the village know the community health agents and because they
are actually part of the community (not just integrated into it) people invite
them into their houses and they don’t feel self conscious or anything like
that. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The thing about this though, is that these community health
agents are just normal people. Some went to school, some didn’t. And all of
them have other things to do. Most people in Burkina farm. Some people raise
animals, some do both. All of which can be a full time job, so where do they
find the time and energy to help out the health center? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So these people are a huge resource but with almost five
weeks now of consistent campaigns each weekend (lasting for four or five days),
I’ve got to wonder, is there a line where there are just too many campaigns and
the people that help us out so much just say, “sorry, we’ve gotta plant our
fields, or take care of our animals”?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or is the sense of doing things for the greater good and
that giving up a couple hours each day to hand out medications for the
betterment of all is totally worth it really that strong here? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, everyone who helps out is paid for their work but
in a village of subsistence agriculture time doesn’t necessarily equal money. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess what I’m trying to say comes down to this: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1) The fact that we have campaigns like this every week is
awesome. I’m not quite sure who donates everything we give out but I think if
they came to visit they’d see that, in Poa at least, their resources have been
well used. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2) The fact that there are people who rain or shine (usually
shine) show up and do what needs to be done is a standard that more people all
over the world should try and emulate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3) When you have a resource of people who will give up their
time to go door to door to hand out medications, don’t take it for granted- and
don’t overuse it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4) The little things count. I’m not rich. I probably will
never be rich. And, that’s okay. But it’s not like I can give everyone who
helps a ton of money to say thank you. But what I can do is go and buy water
for everyone to give out when we visit people as they hand out medication. I
can smile and say you’re doing awesome, thank you for helping us out, and give
some moral support. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We don’t do vaccination campaigns like this in the United
States but, I can’t help wondering if we did: would we find people like this to
help out? I certainly hope so. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-65459790329512544412012-06-02T05:45:00.001-07:002012-06-02T05:45:29.236-07:00All it takes is One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations over the past
few weeks- and they’ve all revolved around what it means to be a leader, what
it means to set an example, and how much good all of that can actually
accomplish. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s backtrack a bit. I was watching the French election
with a few people here and we discussed politics, what a democracy was, and the
relationship between Burkina Faso and France. Needless to say, it’s interesting
to see what the perception is versus what I imagine versus what probably is the
actual relationship. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we first started talking a democracy was used interchangeably
with <i>utopia</i> which, while that would
be awesome, isn’t quite right. But, it certainly contained interesting ideas
such as: while a democracy is fair and just for everyone- who decides what is
fair and just? For example- a conservative Islamic leadership style might be
exactly what a country wants, and is it necessarily bad just because it’s not
what we have? And no, someone who is not Islamic is not by definition a member
of the Taliban, although that was something I did have to clear up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So this talk about democracy brought us to France/Burkina Faso
relations which, admittedly I know very little about; and, is also an
incredibly grey area. Our conversation reflected that we didn’t know for sure
how much influence France has over Burkina Faso and how often it is wielded.
But, if Burkina Faso as a whole is unsatisfied with the status quo, then it’s
the responsibility of the country to change it. It’s one thing to talk about
changing something, it’s quite another to get off your butt and actively change
it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fast forward a few days and we had a staff meeting talking
about practices that work at our health center, and things that we could do
better, that kind of stuff. And the point that I brought up concerned that ambulance
and, more specifically, how we (and other health centers use it). As it stands
now, the ambulance is like a giant taxi- with a cool flashing light, the
ability to speed (though speed limits seem optional here), and the word
ambulance on the side. So when the
ambulance takes people out, there’s no one actually giving care. I tried to
point out that this probably wasn’t the most prudent idea ever- and, they just
laughed at me. Not the response I was looking for but, that’s life. The doctor
and the Major actually did step in and say stop laughing, he’s right- but, that
didn’t help anyone take the idea any more seriously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I decided that I was right about this so kept pushing. I
said that sometimes there’s hours between when someone refers a sick person to
the hospital and if there was someone in the ambulance they can track changes
in vital signs and even perform CPR if needed (I have to train them in CPR
first but that’s coming). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The response to the idea was something along these lines: it’s
the sick person that pays for the gas of the ambulance. And the gas is: from
Poa to the village, from the village to the hospital in Koudougou, and then
back to Poa. This means that if any village to the east of Poa (Koudougou is to
the west) refers a sick person and if they send a nurse with the ambulance the
nurse will only get as far as Poa on the way home unless they pay for the rest
of the gas. So, then it became a question of, why should we put extra work on
ourselves when other villages don’t. My response to this was simple: it’s your
job. You have a responsibility to the sick people- it doesn’t matter where they
come from. This isn’t my American imperialness speaking- some of the medical
professionals that I’ve met in Burkina have expressed this outlook on more than
one occasion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was starting to get late and we had a lot of other things
to discuss so I let the subject go, decided to let it ruminate in people’s
minds and then wait for the opportune moment. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A couple of weeks later, the opportune moment came- and I
brought up the subject again, this time coupling it with the argument that all
it takes is one person to change the status quo. And, somewhat surprisingly the
Major and the Doctor looked at each other and said, let’s do it. So now,
whenever our ambulance goes out- no matter whether it goes to the east, west,
north, or south to pick up a sick person someone always goes with it. It’s not
much. But, it’s a start. And, with a little luck the hospital will notice that
when our ambulance comes in, there’s always someone who knows what’s up with
the patient and that will then become standard practice. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because, really, it only takes one to set an example for
others to follow. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-25508133257802818382012-05-26T06:24:00.000-07:002012-05-26T06:24:21.277-07:00Listen man, you're dur-ing.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life is all about timing. You miss a train by 5 seconds; you
make a train by 5 seconds. You get to the counter and grab the last chocolate
croissant or someone else grabs it before you can get to it. You get to the
pump before someone locks it up for the morning or you have to hope you have
enough water in your water container to last you another 12 hours. To cite more
examples would be slightly redundant, but you get the point. Timing is
important. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And things that take a while often frustrate people or
otherwise overly inconvenience those same people. When my brother was little he
used to say, “But it takes too long, and you know how I hate that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why do people procrastinate? Some people work better
under pressure. Some people have more pressing needs to deal with (a job, money
making opportunity, a family). Some people are just bad at prioritizing. And,
some people just don’t want to pursue a course of action so they keep putting
it off. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the United States procrastination is seen as something to
laugh about especially when you’re in college, high school, or something along
those lines. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But sometimes, it’s not funny, and sometimes it can have dire
consequences. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In French the verb <i>durer</i>
means along the lines of “to take a long time”. You can say, “Man, I’ve really
dured here” meaning “I’ve been here for a while”. “That meeting really dured”
(Jeez, that meeting took a while). And while dur-ing isn’t always bad, the
connotation certainly isn’t good. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other day I was helping out with prenatal consultations
and this pregnant woman comes in because she is having contractions. Gold star-
seriously. Sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to get women to give birth at
the health center because it’s either too far away from their home, they think
it’s too expensive (which is ridiculous because it’s free- the state absorbs the
cost), or something along those lines. </div>
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So then when we find out more information such as her
previous birth had been with a c-section and that our midwives had actually
told her to come in a week beforehand so they could discuss plans for giving
birth in Koudougou (because of the danger of Uterine rupture after a C-section
they like to refer women to the hospital for the birth immediately following
the c-section. After that, it’s fine to give birth at the health center). </div>
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Alright,
so maybe a silver star at the moment but the woman is at the health center and
that’s what’s important. </div>
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Now we have to get this woman to Koudougou quickly. And this
seems like a job for the ambulance. But, ironically enough, the ambulance is
actually in Koudougou picking up our supply of medications for the month of
June. So we call the driver and explain that he should probably hurry back. As
luck would have it, he was only about 10 minutes away so we waited for a bit
and explained that we were going to refer the woman to Koudougou for her own
health. So everything’s good the ambulance shows up we get the door open and…</div>
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Where’d the husband go? Apparently he went home to get something.
What he went to get we don’t know but we’re all sitting around waiting for the
husband and finally he shows up…with nothing. So while that was confusing we
finally have the ambulance, pregnant woman, the husband, and their entourage.
Awesome, go time. So we get the pregnant woman in the ambulance and what
happens- she has the baby. Oops. Now it’s truly a debate as to which is more
comfortable the birthing table in the maternity ward or the floor of the
ambulance but there is definitely more room in the former. </div>
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As it turns out nothing ruptured and the mother and child
were both fine. But we did speak to the father about how we were lucky and that
he should not have spent as much time doing…whatever he was doing. And he just
smiled at us and said that everything will work out, and we tried to impress
upon him the importance of helping everything to work out. </div>
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Later that day all the midwives and I were sitting around
just chatting and one of the midwives said something along the lines of, “People
don’t like to go to Koudougou. So in the end they make up reasons not to go.
They dure at the house, they just continually say no, or they say they don’t have
money (again…for pregnant woman the state absorbs the cost (more or less)). And,
the end result is dangerous”. </div>
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I guess now I’ve found another project to occupy my time
here- convincing people about the benefits of care at a hospital and explaining
that there are some things we cannot do here in the village and that you can’t
really put a price on your health. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-36374186189075823932012-05-25T04:24:00.002-07:002012-05-25T04:24:49.892-07:00The Polio Campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A few weeks ago marked the beginning of the second tour of
the Polio Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to vaccinate every child (0-5
years old) against polio. And here’s the catch: you only have 4 days to do it.
Sounds tough right? Actually, it’s not. </div>
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Here’s what we did: We made 5 teams of two people (each team
made up of a nurse and a community health agent), gave each team a section of
the village, a ton of vaccines, a sheet to check off how many dosages they’ve
given, a marker, and a piece of chalk. And off they went. </div>
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Polio vaccines are actually incredibly easy to give: you
just give two drops in the mouth of whatever child you’re trying to vaccinate and
then you move on: since it’s a quick process, you need to have a lot of them
when you leave in the morning (especially cause if the teams run out of
vaccines, it’s one of my jobs to go bring them extras). </div>
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They bring the sheets with them to check off how many
dosages they’ve given because at the end of the day we use that to figure out
how many children we’ve vaccinated, how many we have left, and how much vaccine
is “lost” along the way. Pretty easy to use system, which is great because
being able to read and write is not a luxury that everyone here has. Also, at
every house they stop off at the health agents note the number of children in
the household and number of children vaccinated that way they know whether to
come back to the house later. And, every child vaccinated gets the left pinky
nail colored in with a marker (our village uses purple) so we can see whether
the child has been vaccinated or not. Apparently, some parents will say my
child has been vaccinated when they haven’t and some will say they haven’t been
vaccinated when they have. It would be easier if everyone told the truth- but
that’s the way of the world I guess.</div>
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In order to prepare for the campaign we did a lot of prep
work. First we went out and spoke to all of the important people in the
village, and informed them of what we were doing. Then, we divided our nurses
and community health agents into teams, and then assigned each team an area for
each day. This took into account: homes, churches, mosques, the market, the bus
station, etc. Then, we told the town crier to go out and publicize the fact
that we were doing vaccinations so that everyone would be “in the know”. The
day before the campaign started we met with all the teams together, explained
what they were doing, explained how to check and make sure the vaccines were
okay to use. Then we said the French equivalent of “Have at it.” And, off they
went.</div>
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The next few days were pretty interesting to say the least.
Between people saying, “aw man this is really difficult” to people saying “aw
man this isn’t easy” there was a lot of well, you only have 3 days left (or two
days, or one day, etc). Then there were the random surveys. This meant that the
major and I went out and just talked to people and asked whether their children
had received the vaccination, how many kids they have, how they heard about the
vaccination, and most importantly- what we were vaccinating against. The last
one was potentially the most important question because this led to other
questions such as, “why are you letting someone vaccinate your child but you
didn’t ask what medication they were giving or what it would prevent against?” </div>
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By the end of the four days we had gotten to 99.54%
participation rate which was good though not the 100% we had asked for. </div>
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Tuesday (the day after the last day of the vaccination
campaign) a couple of moms brought their kids in to the health center asking
for the polio vaccination- they had heard that it was going on but they were
out of town and for some reason didn’t get the vaccination wherever they went.
So, we vaccinated them and reached our slightly over 100% quota (the reason we
had over 100% is that we vaccinated people from other villages who were either
at our market or were passing through on a bus).</div>
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All’s well that ends well. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425877063191127684.post-44445860083139306002012-05-07T05:13:00.002-07:002012-05-07T05:13:57.722-07:00Let me get this straight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A supervisory team from the state came to visit our CSPS the
other day. </div>
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They came to check out how we deal with suspected cases of
malaria first and foremost. We started off talking about simple malaria cases:
we told them that we took vital signs, evaluated signs and symptoms, and then
kept eliminating other potential maladies until we arrived at malaria. Awesome,
one point for the Poa staff. They then asked us if we used the TDRs (rapid
diagnostic tests) to which the answer is both yes and no. When we have them, we
use them, but when we don’t we can’t. The supervisory team didn’t really like
that answer especially the “run out” part. Then we had to explain that for most
of 2011 we didn’t have the test because we couldn’t get any (from the state). </div>
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The new malaria directive is this: you have to do the TDR
(makes sense), if you get a positive result you treat malaria (makes sense), if
you get a negative result you do not treat malaria (again, makes sense). If the
TDR is negative- you’re supposed to research other possibilities for the signs
of malaria (fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc). If you find something, you treat
that, if you don’t find anything treat the symptoms, have them come back in a
few days and see what happens. Once again- this makes a lot of sense on many
different levels. There are lots of times in Burkina Faso when a person will
come into the CSPS (health center) and say I have a fever. The nurse will then
say alright, you’ve got malaria, and they’ll give the medication for malaria,
along with an antibiotic (just in case there was something bacterial) and say
come back in a few days. The flaw with that plan is this: currently the
government here subsidizes the malaria treatment medication- so if people are
being diagnosed with malaria just because they might have a fever- then this
drives up the cost that the government has to pay. Also, the parasite will
develop a resistance to the medication and that’s not a good thing. Same thing
with the antibiotic- if you give it and isn’t needed it will become less
effective overtime.</div>
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Example: today a guy came into the CSPS and said, “I have
malaria.” We asked him why and he said that his body hurt. So we took his
temperature (it was normal), asked if he vomited, had diarrhea, a headache, anything
like that and he said no to all of them. So we ascertained that the guy did not
have malaria. So then I asked him what he had been doing yesterday and he said
he was building a school yesterday. In the hot sun. All day. So clearly, the guy
was worn out- and did not have malaria. So, we prescribed him some rest, and
some vitamins as well- but I was proud of our ability to follow a new
directive. </div>
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So this new malaria directive makes sense- financially,
medically, logically- all over the place really. </div>
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Here’s what really gets me:</div>
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There are these agents called PECADO (deal with malaria
cases and aren’t nurses but are authorized to sell malaria medication). And
they’re basically tasked with: if someone comes to you and says that they kind
of, maybe, sort of, potentially have a fever- then they sell them malaria
medication. No diagnostic tests, no assessment of any type- just selling
malaria medication. It seems to me that this is somewhat at odds with the new
directive (having two groups of caregivers operating in the same general area
but following different directives) but then again, maybe there’s something I’m
missing.</div>
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Not everything makes sense all the time but, hopefully, this
will…at some point in time. And I’m still super psyched by our CSPS- and our
ability to set an example and treat what’s there…and not what’s easiest. Go
team. </div>
</div>Drewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05154679626047920907noreply@blogger.com0