With your help the people of West Africa have "a chance, not only to change their own lives and their own destinies, but to change the future of an entire generation".

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Francis Norman Data Centre


Today the Francis Norman Data Centre held its first class. Attached to the mini-clinic and equipped to modern standards, it was a pleasure to work in. Today we were teaching about health and safety - which is a challenge in this particular environment - 'normal' is far from the 'standard' one might expect in Europe or the USA. Interestingly, many of the hazards identified came out in special ways - such 'a-falling-down-hazard' or a 'feet-may-get-hurt-hazard' or 'he no choked the car proper' - but the ideas and standard phraseology soon came along. 

We use a number of drawings and pictures (snippets shown here) that show situations that are then used in discussions. Interestingly, the image that creates the most discussions is the photo of a workshop posed with a variety of safety issues. Out of these discussions we then consider health and safety in other areas of life, and quickly get some understanding that there is a lot we can all do to reduce our risks and infections! The biggest issue here really is 'appropriate footwear' and the discussion about 'you know when you walk barefoot in the market with the broken glass and old razor blades on the ground, in the same dirt that children urinate in....' very slowly raises the concept that there are a number of simple and affordable changes we can introduce to our living and working styles to protect ourselves. 
 
We are all very excited at what this will open up!

No comments:

Post a Comment