Tanem ting ting blong olgeta*

*Bringing hygiene awareness to the home

In my last blog entry I described my first health awareness talk to the village Erata.

On Monday morning a mama chatted with me about her weekend. On the Friday before I had just given a health awareness talk on hygiene to the mamas and papas and was eager to hear if parents took the next step and taught their kids, at least this was my hope. Well, at this particular home there are the grandparents, a single mom and 3 young boys and that Friday night the adults shared with the kids what they had learned. The kids listened intently while eating their dinner. The youngest couldn’t quite understand germs and how they end up making him sick so his mom explained to him that they are like invisible snakes that find ways into your body and grow big and make you not feel good. The little boy’s eyes got wide and scared. The next day at breakfast the boys announced that no one would go to the garden that it was important that everyone pitch in and clean up the house and yard. They dug a rubis pit and collected the scattered tin cans and bottles and other non-biodegradables to throw in, they raked and cleared away overgrown bushes close to the house and they built a stand outside the small house with a bow of water and soap. At dinner before saying prayer the oldest boy looked at the others with a questioning look and asked if they all had washed their hands. The smallest boy had forgotten and so he quickly ran to the door to go wash his hands but couldn’t find his shoes and began to scream because he wasn’t going to walk barefoot and let snakes come into his sore on his foot, he finally went to the “bush sink” wearing his grandpa’s shoes.

Obed washing his hands

Uncle Eddie throwing away a tin can

Give her first health talk

One of my posters of the different paths to getting germs inside the body

Today I gave my first health talk and it last a lil over an hour and the topic was hygiene – the different ways germs are spread and how to block them. I gave the talk in my home village, Erata, and surprisingly all the mamas and papas showed up and we started on time (730am). I’m sure their enthusiasm is due to attendance being a requirement of the health program but I with more things in life we need a reward to be motivated.

I started the talk with a quick game, which I had learned in training. Each person receives a piece of paper with a stick figure in green and 1 person has picture of figure in red and 2 have a picture of soap. After everyone goes around and shakes hands with 3 people. Then the person with the red figure comes into the center of the circle and I explain that this person has the flu and they had spit into their hand before walking around. I ask then who shook hands with this particular man because now they too have the flu and should come into the center of the circle. I repeat this again till almost everyone is now in the center of the circle but the 2 with the picture of the soap which had washed their hands and didn’t get the flu. It was a good game to play to get them awake and moving and show that germs spread quickly and when one person is sick it’s not long until another and another and then the whole village is sick.

The rest of the talk went just as good and everyone was attentive and seemed to nod in understanding. At the end we had some good discussions. Like about lice and if they were germs (I answered – not exactly but they spread just as easily) and another question came up if it was okay if the mamas continue to pick lice out of the kid’s hair and stick the lice in the mouths to kill them (my answer was that the stomach will kill the lice but I doubted that they tasted good).

Next week Monday through Thursday I’ll give the same talk each morning in a different village. I decided to do it that way instead of just one big one because it would be more convenient for the parents who have lots of work to do in the garden and preparing lunch for their kids in school (the mom’s carry hot food every day at 1130am to the school located a the middle of the island). Plus this gives families an opportunity if they miss the talk in their own village they can come to another and catch it.

Get a police escort to Tongoa

The two police officers

Tongariki is in the background


Well, the heading is not what you think – I haven’t committed any taboo acts or anything. The police boat just happened to be dropping off the Christian Youth group from Tongoa for a retreat. So, I decided to hitch a ride with them back and head into Vila early to meet my mom who would arrive on Saturday. The police guys were so nice and even gave me a lift in their truck to Pele village which would have taken me almost 2 hours to walk. I met up with a friend, Bridgett, who is an educational PC volunteer on Tongoa (and my closest American neighbor). When I got to Bridgett’s school I was able to catch the last half hour of her first grade class. And afterwards she held a hip hop class for the older kids. Bridgett is in her 3rd year in Vanuatu and has accomplished so much and inspires me to keep with it and that we can make a difference.

Go to the 1st Health Committee meeting of 2010

This morning Tongariki held its first Health Committee meeting of 2010. It was a long but productive meeting and I was so impressed with how organized they are – I’m sure Sara (the last volunteer) worked especially hard to get things in order and running smoothly. The chairman of the committee is my host papa – Pastor Rueban, the secretary is Shelly (the nurse’s aid) and the treasurer is my aunty Winnie. The rest of the committee is made up of a representative from each community: Danson (Shelly’s husband and rep for Erata village), Peter (Lawaima village), Winnie (Lakilia), Pastor David (Mu-ur), and Rebecca (Tafea). At the meeting we finalized dates for our first fundraiser and worked out the details of the health program I want to start next month.

Get another tsunami warning

This is the second one in the 6 months that I have been here. I guess its better to be scared and ready but nothing happen then washed away.

So, I woke up this morning tired because it had rained all night and there was a small earthquake. I drank my coffee and oatmeal as usual and the there was a knock at my door – my host mama heard on the radio there was a tsunami warning for Vanuatu and she wanted to know what information I had. But I had no news, so I quickly rang my mom and she gave me all the details: an 8.8 earthquake hit Chile and the whole South Pacific is on alert for a tsunami to hit somewhere between 8am and 11am. The time then was 7:45am. I rushed back to my hut and told my host family what I knew and then I got out my emergency backpack and lifejacket and waited. I figured I was already high up (it’s about a 20min hike up from the ocean) and I could go higher but Id have to hike down and then up again and there just wasn’t time. I just stayed put with my backpack on listening to the radio and the waves crashing in the distance (or at least I was listening in case I stopped hearing the waves crashing – then I’d need to brace myself). There was nothing to do but wait – I tried to read a magazine to take my mind off the situation. And then after 2 hours had passed, I called my mom and was assured that no tsunami will be coming. What a relief.

Think about trash with dread & confusion

What do you do with trash on an island – a very small island??? In some places in the world a dump is the same size as my whole island.

From my survey I found out that most (practically everyone) just throws their trash in the bush or down a cliff and burns most of it and the rest just piles up. I’m sure my lungs don’t like inhaling burning plastic – not sure what the effects are but they can’t be good. And the batteries, tin cans, and glass are scattered about waiting to injure some little bare-footed kid. These are just little things we also have lots of rusted sheets of corrugated tin for roofs that you need a tetanus shot just from looking at it. And as I’m cleaning and organizing the dispensary I’m troubled by what should I do with the unusable old stretcher circa WWII and other relics from “colonial times” (aka before independence in 1980 from Britain and France, who ruled together in a condominium style government).

In the past some families had trash pits for batteries (which should probably be disposed of in a cement pit but 1 step at a time), glass, plastic and tin cans. But they all are filled up now. So, I hope to give a workshop on sanitation and environmental health and hopefully encourage the communities to make some new pits – they recognize the need but just lack the motivation.

But still what to do with the big junk?

What do we do with junk in America – I guess we too throw it in our equivalent of the “bush”.

Go to work at the dispensary

Today was my first day a the dispensary (a smaller version of a health clinic minus a trained professional and advanced equipment – imagine a first aid stand with antibiotics). I’ll now be working every morning with Shelley, the nurse aid, helping her with organization, record keeping and other tasks.

So many people ask “what does a Peace Corps – health volunteer do in Vanuatu???” And I’m not sure if I even know the answer to that because this is unlike any job I”ve ever had – there are no specific tasks or deadlines just a basic outline and you can color the piture however you would like.

The outline says we are not here to provide medical care but to work to educate and create awareness of health issues. And to work with the health committee & health facility at site with their organization, projects and help keep them motivated. Some examples of community health volunteer projects:
- teach health classes at the school
- community health survey
- health workshops (on topics like reproduction, hygiene, malaria, etc)
- work with the village water committee to develop water projects
- toilet projects
- health food and how to cook workshop
- assist with health facility fundraising
- help community to organize a village cleanup
- help nurses in record keeping

These are just some examples and it all depends on the community what their needs are and what projects or activities they are interested in because it must start with them. I’m here to help and what I think are problems may not be the same as what they view as problems and sustainability will not occur if I’m the only driving force.

So right now I’m excited and flexible and ready for whatever – who knows how or what my service will be like – I just hope I can do some good for my peeps on Tongariki :)