Day 9-10 - Home Base, Ngupa, & Motel Bispo 1

Hello! Sorry for not blogging yesterday, I am in crunch time right now for my med school app and that has been consuming every ounce of free time that I have. Don’t worry though, I’m still alive and having a great time. As I mentioned in my last email, the health director, Dr, English, arrived on Sunday and we have been working hard ever since to get this new health curriculum out. The book that was put together is incredible. It covers so many important things (disease prevention/treatment, nutrition, HIV, etc.in a simple, yet effective way. I will see if I can get a PDF version of it to post here.

Yesterday we spent the day training the CFL supervisors and coordinators on the new booklet. It was so interesting to see that much of the information in the book is new to even them. Today we spent the morning doing a similar training, but with the health promoters in one of the villages—Ngupa.

Let me explain really quickly about the organization of CFL. CFL is primarily ran by Mozambicans on the ground here in Beira. There are supervisors that oversee teams of coordinators for each of the focus areas of CFL. Within the villages, there are promoters for each of the focus areas that are members of the community and are responsible for that given focus area in the village. Our training today was exclusively with the health promoters in this village. Each health promoter is responsible for 18 families more or less. Quite a responsibility!

The plan with the booklet is to train the supervisors, coordinators, and health promoters on the content, and then allow them to teach it in a format adapted to the specific needs of the people. The goal is that once the supervisors and coordinators are trained, the program will be self-sufficient as each of the families are taught the information by the health promoters. It may seem like a boring task to just sit and train all day instead of being out and working with individuals on their personal health. The reality, though, is that I love doing this because I know that this is what will make the biggest impact long-term.

Some screen shots from a video that was shot of the training... Not the best quality, sorry!

Something that was commented on several times during the trainings that really struck me is that most people here in Moz have poor health not because of a lack of resources (food, medication, etc.), but because of a lack of knowledge and understanding. For example, with nutrition, we worked with them on the importance on eating a balanced diet of proteins, carbs (what they usually eat the most of), fruts/veggies, and fats. Even in the poorest areas, the people have access to foods which fall into each of these categories, yet because they haven’t learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a strong immune system, the people do not try to eat foods from each of the food groups. What a cool experience to be able to help teach them in a way that will change their life forever.

As I realized this today, a lightbulb went on for me. If you remember, in a previous post I mentioned how a book I read explained that one of the biggest detriments to the growth of the country here is their dependence on foreign aid and NGOs. In the context of this realization, that makes total sense. Most NGOs come here to Moz and do little more than donate supplies. As so many locals pointed out today though, they don’t need supplies! They need knowledge. Even worse, as the NGOs come and “give” and “help,” they instill an attitude among the people here that they need and depend on outside help instead of looking for solutions on their own.

Some other random fun things: I toured the padaria (bread store) next to our house yesterday. Who would have known this place is a HUGE bread factory (you can’t tell from the street at all). Last night was karaoke night with the other volunteers. Pics to follow… Today for the training we took one of CFLs trucks to the village. Great except for the fact that 8 of us had to fit in 5 seats. I volunteered to take the bed of the truck to find out it was pouring rain :) Thank goodness for waterproof jackets. It stopped raining pretty quickly and the driving on the wind from being on the freeway dried me off pretty quickly :) 

Here are the pics:

After we finished our trainings, I met back up with the HELP team to help with translating during their vocational trainings. Here they are teaching how to sew backpacks. The kids loved it! I love the colors in these pics. Not bad for a dirt room, huh?

I especially like this one, so bright and warm.

Howard, the husband of our team director, had the responsibility of distracting all the younger kids, and he did such a good job. Especially for not speaking any Portuguese. They all look so happy. 

Thought these shots were cool of the kids' hands.