April is
Peace Corps Malaria month – that is, a month dedicated to malaria prevention
(not the month when all PCVs get malaria!).
Malaria is the number one single cause of death in Guinea and the entire
population lives in high- transmission zones. People also have all sorts of
misconceptions about malaria. For example, they say that if you eat mangoes
after mango season you’ll get malaria. Malaria prevention is not difficult;
it’s just a matter of people understanding how malaria is transmitted and
taking steps to eliminate mosquitoes and mosquito bites. Soon it will be rainy
season, which means there will be lots of standing water around, and thus lots
of mosquito breeding. This is why myself, with thousands of other PCVs across
Africa are dedicating our resources towards malaria prevention this month. In
addition to the daily activities that people have been doing this month, the PCVs
in my region decided that we would have a mass effort to sensitize as many
people we could in one single day, at my site.
At first it seemed like a
daunting task to plan a single day packed with malaria activities that 13 PCVS
could all do together. However, after talking to some people in my community
about it, they gave me suggestions and I realized how motivated my community
was to host PCVs and to facilitate their work. The community stepped up and
practically did all the work themselves. In the end, it was teachers, students,
government officials, representatives of the health center, a theater group, a
drumming group, soccer teams, and our local marching band who pulled together
to make this day one of the most impactful and memorable days of my Peace Corp
service. We reached out to 735 students,
visited 81 homes, hung 21 previously unhung nets, and informed over 500
community members who came to our malaria themed soccer match.
In the
morning, everyone met at my house and we headed to the school together; a
parade of Fotes! At school we went into each classroom and played a
malaria trivia game with the students, followed by a malaria skit. By noon we
had visited each of the 12 classes that were in session that day. We headed
back to my house, where my family had made riz
gras for everyone, with meat that was very graciously donated by my
community to welcome the other PCVs. At the same time, 15 of my students from
last year, now in Terminale, had been asked to come and help us to do community
sensitizations. The students came on time (a miracle!) and motivated. They
started sharing relevant malaria vocabulary in their local languages and
practiced telling each other in Susu and Pulaar about malaria. We then split up
into groups of two Guineans and two Americans and had a competition to see who
could visit the most homes and hang up the most mosquito nets in the different
neighborhoods of my site. I was astonished by the initiative that the students
took, going right up to any women or families that were outside their houses
and explaining in their local languages all about malaria. They showed the
families pictures and convinced everyone who had an unhung mosquito net to hang
it up. I was SO proud of my students; taking what they’ve learned in class and
sharing the knowledge they have with their community members. After 2 hours we
regrouped at my house to tally up the work we did: we were able to see hundreds
of people in their homes.
Immediately
afterwards, we got dressed up in our soccer jerseys to play a mini soccer game
against a co-ed team of the soccer coaches of my village and my soccer girls at
our cultural center. Tons of people showed up, mostly to watch the white people
play soccer. Our local journalist reported the game and interjected lots of
information about malaria. A representative of our health center talked about
the impact of malaria and a theater group performed a malaria skit in Susu for
halftime. The game ended 1-1 and then went to penalty kicks. No one scored
until we were down to our last player, who, incredulously, scored. The crowd
stormed the field, screaming, dancing and cheering for us. Then everyone broke
out into dance with the traditional drummers. And that’s how we ended a great
day.
