My Next VERY Peace Corps-ish Project
When thinking about the Peace Corps, most people envision us volunteers in the middle of nowhere- jungle or desert, living in huts, working on mass vaccination campaigns, building bridges (literally), and things of that nature. When I thought about the Peace Corps, I envisioned myself in none of these roles. So I find it very interesting to find myself, full year into my service, trying to tackle one these projects.
Recently, two NGOs from the States- Engineers without Borders (NY Chapter) and a children's health organization contacted our offices to say they would like to start a project in my region. So 14 or so of us were invited to compete to have them come to our particular site. I accepted the invitation because for one, the local health inspector is a great man who I enjoy working with. He is very professional and is reasonable in his requests (ie. two laptops for two clinics!) I asked him two weeks ago to assemble information to help me write a request for this project. He then turned to his team of health promoters and asked them to make a list of needs by community. He then returned to me today with statistics of the whole municipality and then more detailed ones of the two villages he cites as needing the most attention.
I have just finished reading this report and it shocked me. It shocked me because I live in what is deemed "urban"(even though the town I live in has 500 residents) and we apparently have luxuries in the town the outer-lying villages do not ie. potable water and sanitation facilities. In my town, 75% of us have potable water come to the house. In the surrounding villages, only 26% of the residents have clean drinking water! Can you imagine in the US meeting even one family on the block without clean water much less 1 in 4 on the block?! Waste sanitation appears to be a rural and urban problem- 56% of both combined lack facilities to dispose of their human waste properly.
This report also includes the top ten reasons for deaths last year. Number one on the list is respiratory infections. 290 people died last year out of a population of under 4,000 due to some kind of respiratory problem. This is because many people here still cook over fires which emit lots of smoke. And, lacking trash disposal, many people burn their trash including plastic which is fantastically bad for your health. I have seen a child put to his daily nap in a hammock right by the kitchen where this happens. The hammock is blackened from the kitchen smoke so you can imagine the child's lungs... This is lack of education and resources. I will soon launch a campaign to sell stoves with the help a NGO out of Oregon called Stove Team International. Their stoves are incredibly efficient using less wood and emitting virtually no smoke.
The second most common reason for death in 2008 was diarrhea-- 66 people in total. Because of lack of access to clean water and access to a local health clinic many people develop infections that eventually take their life.
Our goal for this two-part health project is to deliver new stoves, build new latrines, construct a water sanitation system to at least one of the villages, and hopefully expand a health clinic to be able to serve more people in need.
I never thought in my life I would undertake this kind of project but I am excited to do it and to get some experience in public health issues.
Recently, two NGOs from the States- Engineers without Borders (NY Chapter) and a children's health organization contacted our offices to say they would like to start a project in my region. So 14 or so of us were invited to compete to have them come to our particular site. I accepted the invitation because for one, the local health inspector is a great man who I enjoy working with. He is very professional and is reasonable in his requests (ie. two laptops for two clinics!) I asked him two weeks ago to assemble information to help me write a request for this project. He then turned to his team of health promoters and asked them to make a list of needs by community. He then returned to me today with statistics of the whole municipality and then more detailed ones of the two villages he cites as needing the most attention.
I have just finished reading this report and it shocked me. It shocked me because I live in what is deemed "urban"(even though the town I live in has 500 residents) and we apparently have luxuries in the town the outer-lying villages do not ie. potable water and sanitation facilities. In my town, 75% of us have potable water come to the house. In the surrounding villages, only 26% of the residents have clean drinking water! Can you imagine in the US meeting even one family on the block without clean water much less 1 in 4 on the block?! Waste sanitation appears to be a rural and urban problem- 56% of both combined lack facilities to dispose of their human waste properly.
This report also includes the top ten reasons for deaths last year. Number one on the list is respiratory infections. 290 people died last year out of a population of under 4,000 due to some kind of respiratory problem. This is because many people here still cook over fires which emit lots of smoke. And, lacking trash disposal, many people burn their trash including plastic which is fantastically bad for your health. I have seen a child put to his daily nap in a hammock right by the kitchen where this happens. The hammock is blackened from the kitchen smoke so you can imagine the child's lungs... This is lack of education and resources. I will soon launch a campaign to sell stoves with the help a NGO out of Oregon called Stove Team International. Their stoves are incredibly efficient using less wood and emitting virtually no smoke.
The second most common reason for death in 2008 was diarrhea-- 66 people in total. Because of lack of access to clean water and access to a local health clinic many people develop infections that eventually take their life.
Our goal for this two-part health project is to deliver new stoves, build new latrines, construct a water sanitation system to at least one of the villages, and hopefully expand a health clinic to be able to serve more people in need.
I never thought in my life I would undertake this kind of project but I am excited to do it and to get some experience in public health issues.
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