Malaria!

You may remember about a year ago when I posted a story about my host family sister coming down with a case of malaria. Well, April in the Peace Corps is World Malaria Month where once more we raise awareness about the horribly rampant disease ravaging sub-Saharan Africa.

I have considered trying to train and use older students (here aged between 18 and 23) to complete different community outreach projects including those concerning malaria. I started planning an information booth I could set up in the local market where we could show how to properly use a mosquito net, talk about malaria symptoms and other important topics. However, I knew that I should approach the doctor in my town and get his blessing beforehand.

He heard my pitch and then stopped me. “If you can do one of these booths, why can’t we do multiple ones at the same time? You know, kind of make this a big deal?” (Of course, he said this in French.) His vision was to host a health training for a bigger group of students, inviting some college students from a town called Bobo to come and help. He also later thought of hosting a conference for other students concerning the role of the youth in the fight against malaria. After both of these events, we could drum up enough buzz to do our actual malaria booth project.

Well, first came the attempts at soliciting donations. Ugh. This did not go well. There were some creative differences between me and the doctor about how much money was needed to finance our project. I ended up conceding to him and I made rounds around my town and Banfora, our regional capital, in order to convince the regional medical center and government to support us. Officially, I got squat. However, an official decided to pitch in about ten dollars and a giant roll of paper to help out. That actually ended up making it all possible.

The training (or formation as it’s called in French) went superbly well. We only started an hour late! Three doctors and one nurse presented information about both malaria and malnutrition (added to the project in order to coax non-forthcoming donations) and nine other local health agents followed the training in order to give their own experiences and advice to the eighteen students present. We talked about how each year there are thousands of reported deaths due to malaria in the country but that this number is only the “tip of the iceberg”.

NOTE: There is no ocean here, let alone any snow or naturally-occurring ice. I had a chance to talk about the Titanic and draw quite a lovely diagram of an iceberg on the blackboard during this talk.

At the end, we shared drinks and sandwiches provided by the local hospital and psyched ourselves up for the actual work day to come. I also got relentlessly teased by the doctor because of a communication error resulting in me getting two drinks. “The village chief! He gets two drinks, two wives, two of everything!” “Four wives!” I corrected.

The conference went well but due to conflicting ceremonies in the two major high schools (which were not necessarily all that necessary), we only had 54 students. However, what a group of 54 students! They, along with four members of a local health association, presented sketches and their ideas of how to give back to the community. Ideas included encouraging sick family members to go to the hospital, teaching friends about malarial symptoms, organizing a clean-up of local health clinics and creating a health council of students to plan future projects. I was extremely proud of the passion and creativity of this group of students. Normally, out of financial necessity, volunteer service is rarely considered. Yet here was a group of students willing to sacrifice their time and soccer-playing in order to not only come to the conference at the Mayor’s office, but to commit to something greater. Cool.

Finally, the final day arrived. Armed with questionnaires and health campaign smocks, my core group of 15 students (we lost three to Palm Sunday services) tackled the local market accompanied by my fellow volunteer Jess Szalawiga. We divided up into groups which could communicate in all the common local languages and dove in, spreading our newfound knowledge of malaria and malnutrition. We talked about mosquito nets and vomiting and measured babies’ arms to check for danger signs. Two of the three mothers we encountered with severely malnourished babies ended up following through with the students’ advice and seeking help at the hospital!  Seriously, I think my students saved some lives.

At the end of the day, the team ended up talking with over 500 people in my town. Who knows who we could have inspired in the process! Not only is malaria back on the minds of the townspeople, but now a team of fifteen students have developed their leadership abilities and professional behavior. Seriously, this was such a highlight of my service here.

If you teach in the States, please, consider taking a moment to talk with your students about the reality of malaria in Africa. It’s something that Americans never even think about. However, the world is a significantly larger place than the United States. Everyone hears about the one case of Ebola in Mali but no one hears of the millions killed each year by malaria. Follow my students’ example and spread the word!