Moving Right Along
Before I talk about how work is going, I feel it very important to mention that my kitty caught its first mouse (to my knowledge) on Monday. I was so proud! Someone else in the village had to call my attention to it, needless to say, kitty ate very well Monday. So I know I didn’t bring him all the way to my home in vain, he is doing the job intended for him.
Now onto work: it’s moving right along. I completed all the Zone meetings on Tuesday. The catchment area that I serve has a total of 5 zones. The population is a bit over 6400 people. Each Zone is composed of at least 5 villages. I have been meeting with zones to sensitize to Peace Corps and to explain my problem. I’ve also been doing problem identification in each zone where they discuss all the health problems they feel that their communities are facing. Now that that is over, I have planned a BIG meeting of all the zones, in that meeting the goal is to prioritize health problems and discuss which ones communities want to attack first. Then the community will try to come up with ideas for activities, projects, or resources they feel will help alleviate the problem. I will facilitate some of this and try to lead them into thinking about utilizing resources inside first before right now so all the NGOs are here digging boreholes, giving out food, and other things at the moment, but there isn’t enough capacity building going on. The handouts are not sustainable. So I am trying to take the sustainable approach and help the communities come up with their own solutions to health issues whether it’s preventative solutions or curative. Mostly without external resources it will be preventative but that is still very important to the future of these villages. I want them to come up with their own solutions so they will begin to acknowledge the fact that they can accomplish much through their own efforts and if the unify and put their resources together it can be enough to help entire villages.
Now this big meeting, at first I thought about planning it all myself, chairing it myself, and doing all the work. Then I received a better idea from someone in the Peace Corps staff named Mizhi, he said why not form a planning committee. It made perfect sense because it follows my own efforts of trying to empower community members and having them do things for themselves. I invited the District Commissioner and the District Health Management Team who both are supposed to work on addressing the health and general needs for the entire Choma district of which my Simakutu catchment is only a small part of. And I think both of them will be in attendance because I’ve built good relationships with both groups. The committee idea worked perfectly! I called a meeting and 12 people attended and we came up with the meeting agenda together. Someone else will be chairing the meeting and each member of the committee will have a part to facilitate. It’s very exciting. Out of this meeting I hope to develop work plans or action plans for each zone identifying 3 activities or projects that each want me to assist them with. This will determine where I work and how I work, and it will all be decided based on the needs of the people. So that’s where I am now, I’m making good progress, these are just the beginning stages but I feel like I’m moving right along.
Any questions feel free to ask away.
Now onto work: it’s moving right along. I completed all the Zone meetings on Tuesday. The catchment area that I serve has a total of 5 zones. The population is a bit over 6400 people. Each Zone is composed of at least 5 villages. I have been meeting with zones to sensitize to Peace Corps and to explain my problem. I’ve also been doing problem identification in each zone where they discuss all the health problems they feel that their communities are facing. Now that that is over, I have planned a BIG meeting of all the zones, in that meeting the goal is to prioritize health problems and discuss which ones communities want to attack first. Then the community will try to come up with ideas for activities, projects, or resources they feel will help alleviate the problem. I will facilitate some of this and try to lead them into thinking about utilizing resources inside first before right now so all the NGOs are here digging boreholes, giving out food, and other things at the moment, but there isn’t enough capacity building going on. The handouts are not sustainable. So I am trying to take the sustainable approach and help the communities come up with their own solutions to health issues whether it’s preventative solutions or curative. Mostly without external resources it will be preventative but that is still very important to the future of these villages. I want them to come up with their own solutions so they will begin to acknowledge the fact that they can accomplish much through their own efforts and if the unify and put their resources together it can be enough to help entire villages.
Now this big meeting, at first I thought about planning it all myself, chairing it myself, and doing all the work. Then I received a better idea from someone in the Peace Corps staff named Mizhi, he said why not form a planning committee. It made perfect sense because it follows my own efforts of trying to empower community members and having them do things for themselves. I invited the District Commissioner and the District Health Management Team who both are supposed to work on addressing the health and general needs for the entire Choma district of which my Simakutu catchment is only a small part of. And I think both of them will be in attendance because I’ve built good relationships with both groups. The committee idea worked perfectly! I called a meeting and 12 people attended and we came up with the meeting agenda together. Someone else will be chairing the meeting and each member of the committee will have a part to facilitate. It’s very exciting. Out of this meeting I hope to develop work plans or action plans for each zone identifying 3 activities or projects that each want me to assist them with. This will determine where I work and how I work, and it will all be decided based on the needs of the people. So that’s where I am now, I’m making good progress, these are just the beginning stages but I feel like I’m moving right along.
Any questions feel free to ask away.
posted by Natalie | 10:05 PM
2 Comments:
Whattup sis. It's beautiful to see the empowering impact you are having there. Reading your latest journey made me reflect on how such sustainable solutions aren't necessarily as pervasive in America's hoods as they should be. Hence, New Orleans is a microcosm of strugglin villages across the globe tying to find their way amid the chaos of life's stresses. Keep your head up, girl. Much love and respect.
hey chick. It's me jessica pawell. So how's everything going? I wanted to know if you have a web page of all of your photos since may. If so could you let me know? My email address is jlpawell@hotmail.com. Pleas write me and tell me how you are doing. I hope all is well.
Sincerely,
jessica
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