World Malaria Day!
April 25th 2013
Long, strong, easier to hang
There are several organizations in Madagascar working with
Malaria prevention and awareness. Stomping
Out Malaria in Africa is Peace Corp’s Malaria initiative, and has pooled
resources and programs in 23 countries throughout Africa to reduce the
transmission and spread of this illness.
The day started with anticipation! Breakfast was early,
6:30, but I wake up at that time normally. My group “How to make your bed net
sexy” had met the night prior to make 2 flip charts, which are Peace Corps
“go-to” demonstrative tools. We wrote out 3 sentences in Malagasy conveying our
goal of teaching people to add cloth on the top and bottom of their mosquito
bed nets. The purpose: 1) to make them longer- to tuck them under their
mattresses for better coverage and thus protection 2) stronger-so they won’t
fray or get torn on the bottom or the top where they are being hung 3)easier to
hang the net-if it’s reinforced at the top you can put it up and take it down
faster and with ease.
After breakfast we met briefly to finish our chart, I wrote
two basic sentences:
“Inona ny asa tianao atao rehefa lehibe” meaning: What do
you want to be when you get older? And “
Raha tsy voan’ny tazo ianao dia afka mahavita izay irinao” meaning When you
don’t get sick with Malaria, then you can do anything! The second part of our
goal was for children to draw pictures of their dreams, which can be pinned to
the net to encourage its use and make it more fun for kids.
About 10 children met the group of 37 volunteers at our
Training Center gate, but as we started walking we realized over 150 were waiting
for us just down the road! The energy changed in an instant to excitement and
anticipation for the day’s events. A
Peace Corp car led the parade, as we walked the 30 minutes to Mantasoa. Many
volunteers found their host sisters and brothers, but when I saw a friend of my
host sister, I found out Mino was still in school. Apparently the high school
didn’t take part, which I found odd. Our Malagasy LCFs (language
coordinator/facilitators) joined us in the parade, showing off their paper
mosquito masks and banners taped to their chests and back. Once at the Sekoly
(school), with tent set up for speeches in the large dirt yard, we saw that Dee
the country director was present. It started drizzling and continued as we
stood around until Love, the health sector trainer, called the crowd together.
Children, teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and staff, totaling no less than 300
people, gathered to sing the American National Anthem then the Malagasy Anthem
as our respective flags were raised. It was a reflective moment, the sense of
duty to my country brought to my awareness. And yet being so far away from my
homeland, as the Malagasy anthem started and volunteers sang from the lyrics in
hand, I was comforted and confident about the next two years.
Next, we were gathered to the tent and listened to welcome
speeches from the Mayor, Robert-our Head PC training manager- and Dee. Raf, a 3rd
year PC volunteer, had coordinated the event and helped us prepare the past
week. He used to live in the Sud Est aka South East (the region where I’ll soon
be living) but now lives in the capital, Tana, working exclusively with a US
NGO promoting Malaria awareness in Madagascar. After a brief overview of
Malaria in Madagascar and how mosquitos transmit the parasite, he described the
6 stations then the volunteers and participants were set lose!
We had an actual bed with and a bug net (tied to a basketball
hoop above) at our station, demonstrating tucking the net under the mattress.
There were 2 Malagasy women who had been trained the day before in sewing the
fabric onto the bottom of the nets that ran the sewing machines. There wasn’t
much to demonstrate apart from them physically showing the crowd of women and
children how to sew the net and how to use the sewing machine so our attention
shifted focus to the other part of our station.
For the children, we positioned 3 desks facing each other
and supplied paper and markers. I attempted explaining to the group of kids to
draw what they aspired be when they grow up and we would pin up the picture. I
only knew basic commands and sentences, like “you can sit and draw” and
referred back to the question I had written on the flip chart. Luckily an LCF
was there to help explain the task. But even once it was explained the kids
were still hesitant; no one wanted to be the first to be involved, but after no
more than 20 minutes, children were surrounding me asking for more markers and
paper. It was so fun to be around the laughter and excitement of the families
and children. The concept of “what do
you dream of becoming?” or “you dream job/career?” doesn’t quite exist here, so
it wasn’t too surprising to see pictures of gardeners, farmers, housewives. But
there were even more drawings of pilots, singers, teachers, doctors, and taxi
drivers. We taped each picture to a string, 15 feet long, tied between two
poles at different heights. It wasn’t long before we had to add several more lines
and became backed-up taping them on. The sun came out and we were surrounded by
laughter and glee, as the kids gathered eagerly showing one another their
artwork. I asked each child who gave me their finished drawing their name and
their profession, I even asked a girl-who wanted to become a singer- to sing a
song for me, which she did and the smile on her face was beautiful. It was quite
inspirational to see the children’s artwork (some having true artistic quality)
as the physical form of their potential.
The time flew by before I had a chance to visit the other stations
and soon it was already time to breakdown and return to Training Center. The other stations included how to wash &
clean your mosquito net, testing for Malaria with a quick finger prick test,
and a mosquito piñata station, where kids were given different sized sticks (to
represent how protected they were by using bug nets vs nothing) to attack the candy
filled papier-mâché creatures.
A group of volunteers and I walked part of the way back to
the Training Center, and exchanged stories from the day and how satisfying it
was. I was content in the fact that I had been able to communicate in Malagasy,
although not proficient, I was effective. Also being a part of such a big
community event, on World Malaria Day, felt amazing. I am elated in the success
of the event and look forward to being a part of an event (most likely on a
much smaller scale) at my site. Some initial organization had already been done
on a Malaria and bed net mending project by the former PCV at my site. As each
day passes my anticipation builds, get closer and closer to living and
breathing at my site.
Some Malaria in Madagascar Facts:
Prevalence:
0.8% in the Central Highlands, including Manatsoa(where the
PC Training Center is)
1.3% in the South, the sub-desert, southern tip of the
island
3.7% on the West and North West coast
16.4% along the entirety of the East coast, including where
I will be living for the next two years! This is where the tropical rainforest
is located, with a hot and humid climate most of the year.
