Hey
everyone. It’s been awhile. How’ve you been? Myself, I’ve been extremely busy
out of the gates of IST. I was so excited to finally start working that I kind
of overbooked myself. Oops. Here’s a run-down: I’ve been working furiously on
an all-day workshop that I plan to do with my association on Environmental
issues in their lives. I’m tailoring the content to appeal to my association’s
agriculture base, i.e. “Planting trees can improve your crop yield and save
water (it’s true).” However, I’m a little uncertain about the actual doing of
the workshop, as the guy who’s supposed to take me around to meet all of the
interested parties has been in Ouaga with a sick child for two weeks now. So it
goes (and meilleur santé á son enfant). I’ve also been teaching basic computer
competency classes to the teachers at one of our local high schools which have
been fun. I just hope that if I reinforce the teacher’s knowledge it will
trickle on down to the students. We’ll see. In addition, I finally went out to
meet our local CSPS (health clinic) and the director was intrigued by the idea
of doing Neem cream lotion demonstrations. So on Thursday I went out with all
of my ingredients and made cream for the health agents, with the idea that I
would do the same in front of some regular Janes the next day, but I was
informed that being the grande marché day, the women’s attentions would be
elsewhere. So I’m booked for Monday the 30th. In Moore. Wish me
luck.
For those
unfamiliar with Neem, it is a tree native to India that grows like a weed here
in the Sahel. Despite being somewhat invasive, it actually has many practical
applications including a naturally pest-repelling chemical bouquet. Considering
that Malaria accounts for nearly half of all health center consultations and
60% of the overall deaths in Burkina Faso, making this particular aspect of the
Neem tree known is a major goal of Peace Corps Africa. Oftentimes people know
that the tree has this mosquito-repelling quality, but don’t know how to
harness it. That’s where Neem cream comes in.
Incidentally,
April is World Malaria Awareness Month and April 25th is World
Malaria Day. So here’s a little awareness for ya: Malaria is a completely
curable and preventable disease which nonetheless kills thousands of people in
Burkina Faso every year. Malaria especially affects pregnant women as their
acquired resistance decreases during this time, as well as children under the
age of five who have not yet developed a natural immunity to Malaria.
About it
being curable and preventable- The easiest way to prevent contracting Malaria
is to sleep under a treated mosquito net, as the species of mosquito that
spreads Malaria feeds after dusk. Neem cream is really for those who plan on
staying up after dusk listening to music on their phones and gossiping (this
includes the bulk of people here). You rub the cream on your skin and BAM
you’re mosquito-free for about 3 hours, by which time you should probably go to
bed anyway. One of the problems I’ve found with kids is that they like to get
up and wander around in the middle of the night. I’m still working on how to
solve this one (mosquito net cribs?). Prevention-wise, pregnant women (should)
receive FREE Malaria prophylaxes when they go to their FREE pregnancy
consultations at the CSPS for the duration of their pregnancy. Whether or not
this actually happens, I have yet to delve into.
So how do
I, an American with no acquired resistance, beat the ol’ Malaria blues? Well,
every day I pop my tiny little Doxycycline tab at breakfast. The Peace Corps
insists. And always, I sleep under our huge mosquito net. When we sleep outside
it feels so exotic, like a Saharan bungalow or something. Preventing Malaria
can be fun! It also helps that Mrs. San is like ice cream to the little blood
suckers and takes the majority of hits for us. Ah, the undreamed-of benefits of
marriage.
If you’d
like more information on Malaria (I don’t know why you would. I just handed you
a gleaming sphere of knowledge), check out Stomp Out Malaria, a continent-wide
campaign to increase malaria prevention across Peace Corps countries in
sub-Saharan Africa. Visit their Tumblr page to see highlights of Peace Corps
projects across Africa. http://stompourmalaria.tumblr.com.
Take care
and slap them mosquitos.
No comments:
Post a Comment