Out to the Field

May is flying by! Since I last wrote I took a quick trip to Mombassa, Kenya (long story) where I was lucky enough to be hosted by yet another MEDA affiliate. This time Ben was able to hook me up with a great place to stay, fun people to hang out with and an all round lovely one night away. Wish I could have stayed longer but Sunday morning I was back in Dar, up bright and early and on my way to Dodoma!

This trip out into the field was an incredible learning experience. The trip had a number of purposes but my role was to talk to teachers and students and assess how well the science modules on trachoma, nutrition and hygiene that HKI developed with the Ministry of Education have been integrated into the curriculum. We chose to visit Dodoma as 80 teachers from 20 schools in this district were trained on these new modules.

The first few schools we visited were impressive. Well supported by HKI they had access to water and hand/face washing stations set up in front of the classrooms. An ingenious invention, the jerry cans are filled with water with a hole near the top. A rope attached to a stick on the ground allows a child to step on the stick and get enough water to wash his/her face without wasting the precious resource.

Students also performed a skit on Trachoma for us and later, with the help of the HKI optometrist, students were screened for eye glasses. Amazingly one of the little girls was completely blind in one eye – and her teachers had no idea. It was an incredible process to watch! After the children are assessed they are provided with free eye glasses where appropriate or referred to additional testing at the nearest hospital.

The school below is supported by the World Food Programme which provides breakfast and lunch to the school children. The woman in the photo is Mama Nelly, the District School Coordinator who accompanied us out to the schools.

However over the following days we visited many schools much farther down dirt roads and hours away from Dodoma town where teachers and students struggle with no access to water and unusable latrines. Many students walk up to 5 km to school which is too far to walk home for lunch (if there is lunch to be had) and who go all day without eating or drinking. Children in these more rural areas appear so much smaller for their age due to poor nutrition and stunting. Often dirty and wearing raggedy school uniforms these children did not look well.

How can a country develop when its future are stunted from malnutrition? How can students learn when they are going to school hungry? Having a basic need met like access to water (even a water tank to collect rain water would be a start) could go so far and yet this primal human need is still a struggle for so many people around the world. And as I write this its day two of torrential down pours in Dar es Salaam…