I finally made it to my village. A small amount of diesel came last Monday (August 8th) and we were able to get 20 liters probably less than a quarter tank. Hopefully in the near future, you will be able to see pictures of my humble abode. It is a nice sized little house, it can fit all my stuff. It is made of burned mud bricks with a grass thatch roof. There are two rooms, a small bedroom and a sitting room, and I have a small pantry area off the side of my little porch. The windows are tiny so it is quite dark inside even with candlelight.
When I arrived I was welcomed by nearly the entire village. I unpacked, swept, cooked, washed dishes and settled in. I arrived on a Monday and by Tuesday my first meeting was scheduled for Thursday. It was a meeting of headmen, 13 headmen were present along with 60 something community members. I was received very well. All the headmen greeted and welcomed me as if I were a government official or VIP. I went through an hour and a half presentation of my project and what I came to do and everyone was very enthusiastic and motivated. There were several questions and the meeting ended with me scheduling meetings in each zone of the village’s catchment area. There are 5 zones and over 6,00 people in total, so each meeting I will be addressing hundreds at least and giving them an opportunity to identify health problems that they want me to assist them in working on finding potential solutions or resources for.
It’s funny because only less than two weeks ago, I was pondering as to how I would get all these people to come and listen to lil’ ol’ me, but community leaders are so happy that I’m here, that they’re doing all the work for me so I hope I don’t let them down. Throughout my presentation I am emphasizing sustainability through explaining that my work is no to solve problems for the community, but my work is to assist and educate the community on how to solve problems for themselves by accessing resources within their own government and country and by working together in an organized manner to bring positive results for themselves. Even though Zambia is a poor nation, it still has money whether from within or from outside aid to use on working on health issues in the community. My job is also to help communities if possible to identify resources and solutions that are sustainable such as interventions that educate and promote behavior change. So that if they get money, it is used towards activities that can go on without continuous need of money such as start-up costs for income generating activities, or funds to buy germinating seeds that reproduce themselves to begin diversifying crops and growing food to increase nutrition.
Nutrition is a big problem in my village because the children aren’t getting protein so they are malnourished with kwashiorkor many with bloated/extended bellies. It is because one, Southern Province of Zambia (where I am) only had 10 days of rainfall so many crops died and hunger began, and because the people depend mostly on maize, which doesn’t bring in income from October through February. Without farming ability there is no money coming in to buy nutritious food so we have to find other ways such as storing water, food, drying food, irrigation, preserving food so during the low production months it has food to eat. Or access to planting crops that still grow with smaller amounts of water. So, I will be researching ways to access as much as possible and transfer the knowledge to people here. Meanwhile, you my friends in America, please pray for the rains to come this year to Southern Province in abundance to make my difficult job a little easier.
Am I afraid of failure? I fear that I’ll help villages got to the point where they’re writing strong proposals to the government for support and money and the government lets them down or corruption leads money in the wrong direction; out of the community and into pockets of politicians. I fear that the community designs a great new way to diversify crops and again there is no rain. But even through these fears, I am hopeful that because the community is so motivated and wants the best for their families, that something good will come out of all this work. And although it may appear I’m shifting focus a bit away from HIV/AIDS, the work of increasing nutrition levels has everything to do with prolonging the lives of those suffering from the HIV virus. And poverty and hunger leads to depression, drinking of locally made alcohol, and poor sexual behavior choices that increase the risk for HIV, so these issues are all interrelated. And I will be designing workshops that educate on the ways of transmission, prevention and so on. So it will all work together.
Well, that’s all folks… until next time. I’ll try to post pictures of my house, it takes an eternity to upload them though.
Lot’s of love, and take care!
Natalie
