Thursday, December 12, 2013

Volunteer Reflections: Michael J. Kacka

The following is a guest post written by one of our 2013 Malaria Prevention Summer Serve and Learn volunteers, Michael J. Kacka. Michael will be returning to Humjibre in 2014 to lead two of our volunteer programs as a Volunteer Coordinator.

Mankind walked on the moon in 1969. It must have seemed like it would be impossible to someone in the 1960’s. Being in 2013 looking back, it seems impossible that it happened because we do not see that kind of thing anymore. Something has happened to our ability to use big ideas and technology to do big things. [Check out the TED Talk below for more on that.] That is why Bill Gates has become such a big hero to me. He is an optimist about solving the big problems of today, not by blindly hoping it will happen, but by putting the best minds on the case and figuring out solutions. We can collect data, mobilize affected communities, evaluate processes, and little by little solve problems like global poverty, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria completely and in our lifetimes. 




Volunteering with GHEI was my first opportunity to work on a global problem like malaria. The experience was incredibly fun, but it certainly was not glamorous. Two years ago, GHEI distributed the bednets in the community [known as long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs)]. Our role was to facilitate as local community health workers conducted surveys on the care and condition of those nets. We then coded the data on the surveys for entry into an excel program. That is when the real fun began! Double entering all that data in excel was a tedious task that encompassed most of our evenings. I was fortunate to be out there with such an incredible group of people that the work, which should have been horrifically boring, was actually entertaining.


My experiences in Ghana were a moving, emotional experience for me. I have told many people about one particularly transcendent moment running around with the local kids on their soccer field at night while it poured rain on us. That was certainly incredible, but I am fortunate that I can find the Zen in a stack of data. The heart of any good public health program is evaluation. It is that kind of data that saves lives and ends suffering. It may sound like I am overstating it, but it is not just the data itself. It is how it came to be. It is how a community was mobilized to address a deadly problem. Our role was very small in comparison. We just help keep the momentum going until malaria is a distant memory in Humjibre. 

2013 Malaria Prevention Summer Serve and Learn volunteers and some neighborhood children

The process of getting to the moon wasn’t always exciting, as anyone who has sat through all 17 hours (approximately) of The Right Stuff can attest, and the answers to these problems will not be an eureka moment in a laboratory. They will entail getting these communities organized so they realize what resources they have to work toward a solution, and of course doing the work - collecting the data, combing through stacks of surveys, and drawing conclusions about what works and does not. It would be nice to always have the perfect solution, but even when using best practices (something that GHEI clearly makes a priority) the methods must be adjusted to fit the population and situation. Eliminating these big problems like global poverty and malaria will be a long process, but because there are people and organizations out there doing this type of work, it is actually reasonable to believe these issues will be solved in our lifetimes.

Check out Jason Pontin's TED Talk – Can technology solve our big problems?



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Thursday, December 5, 2013

World AIDS Day Two Ways

GHEI’s three regularly held health outreach programs are each well attended. However, people don’t get excited about World Malaria Day or Global Handwashing Day in the way that they do about World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS prevention is an important subject that people want to learn about, but many are not comfortable seeking the information on their own. When we make it openly available, we get a very positive response.

According to the 2007 UN AIDS report, the prevalence of HIV in Ghana is around 1.9%. However, due to the influx of laborers working in nearby mines, it is known to be significantly higher in our area. GHEI’s Sexual and Reproductive Health program works to address this need, and the centerpiece of the program is our annual World AIDS Day celebration. On all other days of the year, we rely on GHEI-trained pharmacists, bar owners, and other individuals throughout the community who have volunteered to confidentially sell GHEI-subsidized condoms.

World AIDS Day Humjibre

After introductions, the evening began with
Bethel Health Builders organisation in partnership with HEARD and RATN's educational video “Understanding HIV Testing” (see below). After each scene, we paused the video and allowed Aggie to translate and offer an explanation in Sefwi. Next, the health team played a short, but engaging film relating to common social situations, and how they can potentially lead to risky behavior. 



Afterwards, the real fun began. Francis and Mensah walked onto the stage and carefully demonstrated how to properly put a condom onto a carved wooden penis. Regardless of anybody’s maturity, watching Francis and Mensah work together on this task was hilarious. The whole crowd was laughing and cheering throughout the process. When they finished, Aggie and Abby stepped up to introduce the more foreign and apparently quite surprising, female condom. 


Finally, the health team closed with the part everyone had really been waiting for. To keep people from feeling shy, staff members dispersed to dark areas in town to distribute free condoms to anybody who approached them. GHEI’s once-a-year free condom distribution is an extremely popular event in Humjibre, and people rushed to the distributors, eager to collect.

World AIDS Day Soroano

We planned to do the same program the next evening. However, it rained for two days, and we found ourselves standing in a storeroom in Soroano, plotting our next move. At that point, the total attendance at World AIDS Day Soroano was going to be eleven: GHEI staff and program support personnel. 


Hiding from the rain in Soroano
I accompanied Abby, Aggie and Mensah to the public announcement broadcast station. If you’ve never been in a village in our area of Ghana, many have Big Brother-esque speaker and announcement systems, where anybody can pay to speak into a microphone and their voice is essentially inescapable within the village. Aggie began the program. For somebody who had had zero preparation for presenting in this setting, her performance was astounding. She was confident and self-assured as she introduced GHEI, World AIDS Day and the importance of HIV/AIDS awareness.

Meanwhile, Abby pulled her computer out and started playing the educational video from the previous night. As Aggie watched, she translated and explained the video to Soroano’s captive audience. Afterwards, emcee Mensah took the microphone and began the next segment of Soroano’s impromptu educational outreach program. 

He invited audience members to come ask questions on the air and announced that GHEI would be simultaneously distributing free condoms from a few separate locations in Soroano. The rain had subsided and as Mensah encouraged people to step out of their homes, Aggie and Abby hustled back to the storeroom to send staff members and boxes of condoms to the stated locations.

They made it just in time. Groups of people began arriving ready with questions and to collect from the distribution. 


***

While these ended up being two distinct programs, both were popular with their audiences and effective in getting our point across. In Soroano, we likely reached a different, but potentially larger group than we planned to. This occasion was an inspiring example of GHEI’s flexibility, ingenuity, dedication to our cause and ability to accommodate unforeseen events. To the health team that pulled it off, Bravo!

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