Fulani school registration

Submitted by Michaela Sholes

Time is a funny thing out here...  I find that no matter how long I live here, this particular concept is one that I must constantly remind myself of (especially when I am tempted to get panicky over it).  Those who haven't been here might think it funny that each appointment made must have the specification as to whether it will be "Ghana time" or "clock time", but in fact it is essential to distinguish in order to avoid losing half your day and potentially much of your sanity. 

Audrey and I met at the Fulani camp early in the morning to accompany some of the parents to Iliasu's school in order to help them register 4 additional children for the upcoming school term.  We arrived a little early to pick them up as we had set up a 7:30am appointment with the school, only  to discover that everyone was still off bathing and getting ready.  Finally setting off around 9:30 with the parents and children in tow, we arrived at the school with our prepared apologies...only to find that the administration weren't bothered about it in the least (apparently the only ones not working on Ghana time are Audrey and I!).

The meeting with the headmistress didn't go quite as we had planned, although that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  She and the administration coordinator (Madame Felicia) explained that registration typically occurs at the beginning of a term or at a time when the child is ready to go right into classes.  Since their school is currently writing their end of term exams, she advised that we return at the start of the next term (May 2) to officially register the kids.  That is really just a formality though, as they have already taken down the information from each of the children and have verbally accepted them into the school.  Understandably, the headmistress expressed some concerns regarding the likelihood of the children's future attendance, referring to the children from the camp who had been registered before and stopped coming to school.  Audrey explained to her the challenges identified by the Fulanis concerning transportation and the costs of uniforms and assured her that the parents have addressed each challenge and are working towards sustainable solutions.

The headmistress and her administration were very encouraging as they spoke with the parents about ways to plan for the next term and took the time to lay out what needed to be done between now and May 2. It has actually worked out well for there to be a few weeks before the new term as it gives the parents additional time to save up for uniforms, book fees, and other school related costs. We will continue to work with the families to address challenges as they occur and encourage them to explore feasible options.

Our new Office

Submitted by Michaela Sholes

Regular followers of the blog may have noticed last week, that when James from Battorkope came for a visit, our office was looking a bit bare. Granted, the walls, screens, and doors were up, there was some seating available, and we were thrilled to finally have our own space...but there was still much to be done! However, following the completion of two snappy new desks (lovingly crafted by our own Mr. Solo), Ben and I have taken the opportunity to officially move ourselves in! As you can see, we are still organizing and are in the process of having a bookshelf and some hanging shelves created. Today, Mr. Solo supervised the planning of the next step in getting the office and mini clinic ready.....sidewalks! We are so thrilled to kick off the beginning of the ETCHE program in such a lovely office, made by such talented people, in order to welcome such dedicated visitors as the volunteer health representatives!

Always on call

Submitted by Patricia Mawuli

Today was supposed to be a recovery day ..but it did not turn out that way.  We started with a call for help from the local mango farmer after his trailer had fallen over... Happily nobody was hurt and we soon had him back working.  Then the joy of water has its woes and we have some leaking pipes to fix... Perhaps we will get a off day next month!

The First ETCHE drop

Submitted by Michaela Sholes

If we are learning anything this week from all the calls we’re getting, it is that the communities are as varied in personality as they are enthusiastic about the drops this last week and the start of ETCHE! 

With our response rate about 65%, we’ve heard from communities as large as 1500 and some as small as 350.  Although each community targeted has in common that they are located on the lake’s edge, they have so far each been unique in relation to factors such as distance to the nearest clinic, existence of a school and/or latrines, and community water source.  In talking with community members, it continues to be eye-opening when they share some of their challenges with us via crackly phone lines.  For example, ETCHE bag #A019 which landed in Akotoe, was received by a local school teacher who, in describing his community, told us that his people are forced to get their water from the lake because the water from the two boreholes nearby have become salty and undrinkable.

It has been interesting to hear from the communities how they received their ETCHE bags.  For example, a representative from Dzogba called me yesterday to apologize for not calling sooner but that their school children had only just found the bag in the wooded part of their community that day.  He informed me that the community has called a meeting for tomorrow and will call me again once they have read the letter from MoM and had a chance to discuss it with the people. 

My favorite part by far though has been the initial and continued interaction with community members.  The excitement in their voice is unmistakable.  When you answer an unknown number on your phone and the chipper voice on the other end immediately says happily, “Good Afternoon Madam!  We are pleased to have received the bag from your airplane and we wanted to let you be aware that we want to participate!”

Many of the phone calls from the communities have come with a representative on the direct line and you can hear the entire community in the background as they all wait for this initial contact.  In many cases, the community’s chief  (or Dademantse, as he is called here) or a teacher is usually the one to make initial contact, but that has provided a perfect venue within which to answer questions and explain to them our vision for a community-identified health volunteer.

We will do one more round of pinging drops in the coming week or two in order to gather information about the communities, but we hope to have our kickoff and initial training in the weeks following.

Update on Fulani Camp

Submitted by Audrey Binney

As planned, Michaela and I set off early to the Fulani camp to meet the women who were going to accompany us to the school (Natriku R C School) which was supposedly of closer proximity to their camp than the one we have been focussing on (where Elias attends, Holy Family RC school). It became very clear after 15 minutes of driving that there was no way any child could walk to that school. Nonetheless we carried on and went ahead to meet the Head as planned to explore the structure, facilities and costs involved. We visited their facilities including all the classrooms with a very warm reception from each. We were satisfied with what we saw and concluded it was no different to Holy Family RC school. Of course the issue which brought us here in the first place was they would rather have their children in a school within walking distance.

We came back to the camp and held a follow up meeting with the men and women.

The mothers agreed this school did not fit that criteria and jointly with the men decided they would rather send their children to Holy Family RC.  They have come to the decision they will fund the transportation to send the kids to school and have made an arrangement with a local driver who they trust. This is a good result if they stick to it! They have agreed to send back to school the 8 children who registered and stopped attending last year. They have 5 weeks to sew the uniforms for the children which became a stumbling block last year and contributed to them dropping out.  2 or possibly 3 new children will register next week. Michaela and I then went to the school to let the headmistress know our intentions, that the 8 will be returning and a further 3 registering next week. She assured us the uniform situation will not be an issue if they begin without it. We took the opportunity to check up on Elias. The teachers are very happy with his progress and they tell us he is now Class prefect! We are so proud of him and his achievements….he is certainly a good example for the other children to follow.  We are still working hard to get his brother to start attending next term.

So next week Michaela and I will be meeting the parents of the children who will be registering, at the school where we will assist with their registration.

The key challenge here is whether they will spend/can afford  to sew the uniforms, pay the registration fee (for the new ones) and afford the cost of their books and daily lunch allowance. We’ll keep monitoring their progress.

At long last !!! WATER !!!!

Submitted by Ben Sholes

So, after 6 years, some hard work digging ditches & laying pipe, a little sweet talking to the water company (thanks, Michaela and Ben), and a whole lot of follow up with said water company, Kpong Airfield now has access to the main water supply. And, it is such a relief!

Prior to this day, all water for drinking, washing, and construction has been transported on-site via Polytank or sachet. You can read more about the dark ages here (Bens Blog). Without a doubt, this advent will save us major time, money, and effort. My favorite part is how it all works:

Instead of being able to use three different water sources that can be split up and sent to different parts of the compound, we now had to figure out how to split up one source of water for drinking, washing, construction, and cooking which take place in very different parts of airfield. The answer was very simple: tank + pipe. At the heart of the system, is a 3,000 liter tank on a water tower that is directly connected to the main water supply. This bad mamma jamma keeps us in water for roughly 3 days depending on "consistency" from the water company and our usage on a day-to-day basis.

From this point, we're basically set up with underground pipe to 3 different places around the airfield: accommodation, visitor washroom, and the office kitchen. These direct connections (once completely finished) will provide water to spigots outside the house for laundry, sinks inside the house for dish and hand washing, and the most important thing...showers! We've also hooked up what we call stand pipes at strategic places around the airfield where we may need water for washing planes & cars, refilling construction water tanks, and extinguishing bush fires.

Mark this day as one step closer to sustainability and standardization for the airfield and for MoM. With this new supply line, we will be able accelerate construction on the mini-clinic, more easily provide adequate water to big groups to host training sessions, and ultimately help MoM staff better utilize their time. Today is a good day.

Our first drops... a flying success.

As we look over the images of yesterdays drops and discuss the oncoming phone calls from the pinging bags, I cannot help but smile, we really have started something amazing... There has been a lot of sacrifice just to get this far, but we, together, have made it happen... And this is just the first run... With web visits in the hundreds today, we can see that we are not alone to be excited at what is happening... West Africans building and flying aircraft to help West Africans to move towards healthy and success filled lives... One flight at a time.