On the Campaign Trail

Lately I feel like the Politian I never wanted to be. I’ve been smiling so much my face hurts, and I wish I knew the amount of people I shook hands with on a daily basis, I’m sure it’d break some sort of record.

My Supervisor thought it’d be a good idea for me to go into the villages, and evaluate the needs of each area. Great idea, seriously.  It will take a lot more work then going to each village, one afternoon, meeting the officials, and walking around for an hour, but I was happy and excited about this plan nonetheless. It’s a good start, and I want to integrate and explore.

So Tuesday me and the Head of the Community Health Workers, ventured into Cyabayaga Center to meet the Community Health Worker (see below on description of a C.H.W.)*. The C.H.W. (community health worker) of the village was great. She wants me to teach proper water sanitation (good, this is a good project), and do something about the bathrooms. Then she proceeded to show me around so I could see first hand how bad the bathroom situation is.

I was not shocked by the bathroom situation whatsoever. I think Esperance (head of the Community Health Workers) and the C.H.W. were more shocked about my lack of shock. Cyabayaga is very poor, but what I saw resembled my old village in training. So my reaction was: Um, hello? I lived in that environment for ten weeks. I have explained this many times to many people, but I don’t think they believe me. For example: just today, I was sitting with my coworkers, and we ordered two avocados with our lunch. I started to cut one up with a knife, then GASPS! They were shocked that I could cut an avocado correctly, and with the weird Aztec looking knives they have here (they know those don’t exist in America). This happens all the time, in several different circumstances. I constantly question whether it is because I am American, or because I am blonde. Thoughts? I know it’s not because I am a woman, because the women here are bad asses and do (almost) everything.  

So twice a week I visit a new community, introduce myself, explain what Peace Corps is, and why I am here. Esperance carts me around from place to place, and I “campaign” (that what I’ve decided to call this), or try to get people to trust me, open up to me, and like me. This is an essential factor if I want to make some sort of change here.

So what are you doing?

Well, in terms of saving the world, I am not there yet. In three months, October 15^th, I have I.S.T. In Service Training. The twenty-one new volunteers meet up with Peace Corps, and present our Community Health Assessment, and what we’ve been doing for the past three months.

So right now I am not doing much of anything. True, and false. This is my daily schedule:

5:30 am – Wake up, pour coffee, watch something on the computer, or listen to This American Life, or read a bit, etc, etc. Get ready for work.

7:00 am – Arrive at Health Center (not even five minute walk). Sit in on morning meeting. Everyone morning the Health Center reports on what happened the day before, (and mainly) the night before. Health Center’s are twenty-four hours and operate like hospitals. Then we pray a half hour.

8:00 am – Sometimes H.C. has a plan for me (this was only once). Walk around aimlessly. See what looks exciting. Ask people what they were doing today.  Decide on something to do.

For example: I have never worked with the social worker, Fatuma, so I decided that’d be a good place to start today. I am also confused about what a social worker does in Rwanda. So I shadowed her all day. Turns out today she was counseling HIV and AIDs patients, checking on their progress, and distributing their medication. It was a fascinating day for me.

12:00/1:00 pm – Go to lunch with coworkers at boutique across the street. Or, cook for myself.

1:00/2:00 pm – Decide if I want to stay in the same area I’ve been working in all morning, or jump ship and go somewhere else.

* Two days a week in the afternoons I visit a new community with Esperance.

4:00 – Go to office, take notes, and recollect on what I’ve seen.

5:00 – Walk home, get water, do dishes, bathe, start cooking.

6:30/7:00 – Eat.

8:00 – Watch a movie, read a book, draw/work on various art projects, go online.

9:00/10:00 – Bed.

Currently I am observing my H.C. and figuring out what everyone does and why. I am also visiting communities with Esperance to “campaign.”

Why?

Because I need this for the C.H.A. (community health assessment), and for myself. 

So what is this C.H.A. thing that I have to do?

The C.H.A. helps volunteers understand their community, and how the community works. More importantly, it identifies the needs of the community.

For example:

Right now (I think) I want to start a Soy Cooperative. This is not an original thought, I heard about other volunteers doing similar things, and being a fan of soy products I liked the idea. Supposedly there is a lot of malnutrition in my community. From the H.C. reports that I’ve read, this is not the case. But when I go to into various communities this is very much the case. Soy is extremely good for you, you can make many different things from soy, and it’s easy to grow here.

Everything sounds great right?

Well, if I don’t do C.H.A., or have any understanding of my community I could be doing more harm than good. Maybe the people here don’t like soy, and therefore won’t eat it, maybe the reports are true and malnutrition is not a problem here. I’ve just wasted time, material, resources, space, and possibly done more damage.

Example number two, my “original” idea:

There is a compound for people living with HIV and AIDS here. This is very uncommon in Rwanda, and it is great that this exists. Except it looks more like a scary warehouse than a place people live. People in the community treat it like the black spot of the village. Though the people’s decision to move there might be voluntary, there is so much negativity focused around this compound, people don’t talk about, go near it, or act like it exists.

I want to change that. During AIDS day in PST, the Ministry of Health spoke about the stigma’s of HIV and AIDS and how it is hard for a person living with the disease to get a job because of the misunderstandings. They are trying hard to change that. I want to try hard to change that as well. Not sure how to go about doing that. Also, the people living in this compound might like living there. I don’t really know. I need to do my research and understand it, before I start to put my own beliefs on it, and go around changing things.

These two examples are the base of the C.H.A. report; it’s a report on the community and the needs. As the ultimate outsider, who wants to help, I not only need to become part of the community, I also need to understand it. That’s my job right now. I’ve started with my H.C., following the staff around, and observing how they work, move, coexist. And, of course, the campaigning in the community helps to gain trust and an understanding that I am not just a visitor. In a post genocide country it is not the easiest task. But I try everyday, and have leads thanks to my site mate Markey. So let the campaigning begin, and hopefully I will make my way into their hearts.

*Community Health Worker: So there are these things called Health Centers in Rwanda that I explained in my previous post. Some are an hour or more walking distance from the villages. Therefore each village has at least one C.H.W. (there are usually more) to provide health support. If you think you have malaria, or other diseases, if you need help on family planning, or good hygiene, you see your C.H.W. and they help you out. My host Mom was a C.H.W. and she administered malaria tests in our home regularly. To be a C.H.W. all you have to do is sign up. And go to the H.C. occasionally. This week at my H.C. they are having classes for the C.H.W. on how to teach family planning in the villages. It’s pretty cool.