No, we are
not celebrating the disease, but the fight against it. As part of PC Guinea’s celebration of
malaria month, we have all been challenged to get involved in malaria projects
at our sites. Our malaria
coordinator even made a competition out of it, and the region with the most
points at the end of the month gets a prize! I’ve taken this opportunity to get involved with the
national bed net distribution campaign, a project that aims to get all Guineans
sleeping under a mosquito net this year by distributing millions of them. Since you can’t have malaria without
mosquito bites, zero bites means zero malaria. Here’s something I wrote a couple months ago, when I
first started working with them:
As an agroforestry volunteer
entering the Peace Corps, malaria was only on my radar as the reason I had to
take that little pill each week.
Since then I’ve witnessed the detrimental impact this disease can have
on my community, so I was especially excited when asked to participate in the
national bed net distribution campaign. Specifically, I’ve partnered with a
local NGO, Association pour la Promotion
des Initiatives Feminin (APIF), who is charged with the distribution of
nets for the prefecture of Kankan.
Together,
we attended a training organized by Catholic Relief Services on how to organize
the census data that had been collected over the past several weeks. The NGOs from the other prefectures
were there as well, each paired with a Peace Corps Volunteer. Two days later, the chefs de santé from our prefecture came
into Kankan with all the data they had collected from their assigned
localities. We all went around the
room introducing ourselves and when it came to me someone asked, “Why is the
Peace Corps here? What is their involvement?” You see, Peace Corps volunteers are usually involved in
small community-based projects, not internationally funded nationwide
campaigns. Once we started
working, however, it became apparent that I had a lot to contribute. As someone who understands Excel and
had attended the prior training, I was able to help input the census data into
the spreadsheet, effectively cutting the time it took in half. Because I understood the logistics of
the whole campaign, I could also offer advice about which logistical issues
might arise and how to prevent them at these early stages of planning. At the end of a long day typing in names
of remote villages (And just how do
you spell Gbangkonkorokansin?) and strings of numbers, the staff of APIF and I
decided to meet at their office the next day to go over what we had collected.
The
next morning, as we looked over all we had collected, we realized just how much
work there was. Not all the census
takers had followed the standardized layout and others had omitted crucial
information. We would have to make
sense of any errors and resolve questions with the chefs de santé. For
the next two days, Cabinet, Junior, and I poured over Excel spreadsheets and
submitted data forms. For someone obsessed
with order, this was at first a very frustrating experience. There was no perfect way to make sense
of the information and each person had a specific way they wanted to do
things. It took a lot of
discussion and trial-and-error, but eventually we worked out a system of how to
map out the distribution routes and calculate how many and what type of vehicle
we would need. Seen as a kind of
‘outside party’, I was able to point out flaws and offer suggestions without
ruffling too many feathers. Whenever
a computer or IT problem arose, I could step in and fix it before it caused too
much damage. We worked long into
the afternoon both days, a feat considering Nigeria was playing in the African
Cup of Nations, but eventually finished, the first prefecture to do so, if I’m
not mistaken.
It
was a great experience working with everyone at APIF. As a Peace Corps
Volunteer, I have experience planning and running projects and as a geeky
American, I have an obsession for detail and logistics. Because of this, my voice matters and I
know how to help prevent any future logistical nightmares in this project. In fact, I’m going to continue working
with APIF several days a week until the distribution in April, consulting on
each step of the project.
Personally, knowing I’m working on
a project that will make a noticeable difference in the malaria situation in
Guinea gives me a huge sense of accomplishment. When we finally finished, Cabinet looked at the numbers we
had calculated. “Look,” he said, “we’re going to give over 500,000 people
mosquito nets.” Helping prevent malaria in over half a million people? Not too
bad for a stint in the Peace Corps.
UPDATE: Since I wrote this blog, I followed through on my
word and have continued working with APIF a couple days per week. They are a really motivated group of
people who don’t mind working through the afternoon break and have put a lot of
work into this project. On April
25th, we will finally get to distribute the bed nets we have been
planning for all year!
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