Project Update: Donni Donni

1) Well Repair
So last you heard from me I was stressing about this well repair project. My weaker qualities- trying to please everybody and not being able to say “no”, got me into a lot of trouble. Well a lot has happened since then and though there are still many problems, a lot of good is starting to come out of it.
A Peace Corps trainer came into my village to show everyone how to do top-well repairs. The work went really well, but everyone, including I, came to realize how difficult it was. We got down to reality and realized exactly what this entailed- and a couple of men who were pestering me about money, failed to show up. “Where are they?” “Oh, since the project got smaller and there isn’t money involved they didn’t want to come. Just forget about them.” Can do. But its nice to know that their opinion wasn’t the opinion of the whole group.
What I was left with was a core group of people who did a systematic evaluation of the village and chose 21 sites- 14 traditional wells and 7 project-initiated wells that need improvement. Basically what we are doing to the traditional wells is digging out the top and installing rocks and cement to prevent erosion. Then for all of the wells, we are installing a slab with a metal door to prevent dirt and other things from falling in. We are then going to clean and shock the wells and begin treating them regularly with cholorine.
It’s not easy work- especially when we could only find one guy in the whole village that actually knows what he’s doing (Binot Troure, my joking cousin who also build the hand washing stations). Can’t other people learn how to do it? Yes, Binot is taking 3 apprentices to learn donni donni. But it’s harder than you think when you really only have one guy that knows how to use a tape measure, let alone fix a village water system.
And then there’s Mariam. The president of the water sanitation committee, a woman who after elected was the source of a few mens’ subsequent absences. When I talk to her, I feel like it’s the “Field of Dreams.” (If you build it they will come). Meeting after meeting we find more problems. The work is hard, we don’t know what we’re doing, we don’t have a lot of money. After one dishearting meeting I sat down with her to ask, “Really… REALLY… is this something that we can do?” Half hoping for her to bag it and thus free myself to focus on other work, she responded with dignity, “It will be done.” Can we find workers? “If you call them, they will come.” Can we find enough time? “It will be done.” Will they treat the wells consistently? “If you show them, they will do it.” She really has a lot of faith and determination, and was an inspiration to me. One day Binot and I were to go travel around the villages and look at the wells by bike but he was called for other work (seems to happen a lot with this guy which makes me rather nervous) and Mariam went with me. We walked for three hours in the hot sun to visit dozens of families. “I am not tired,” she says, “this is important work.” Of course, without Binot, I felt pretty clueless. I tried to take some measurements to make it look like I knew what I was doing, but I think I’ll leave that to him. So we’re doin it guys. N’I Alla Sonna (If God wills). And I’ve realized that this is something really important to my community, something they are willing to sacrafice a lot to accomplish, and that’s why I’m excited about this. I don’t know much about fixing wells, but after seeing some of the water that these people drink, I am realizing how important it is. Kids are malnourished here, but it’s not just because of the food. They drink this dirty water and get worms and then can’t eat. I’m starting to open my eyes and realize this. So it’s all related. Health. If we build it, it will come.

2) Child Nutrition

There are still mothers who won’t come. Irene gets mad, I get worried. There are still messy records. Irene gets mad, I get worried. There are still people who do not understand how to properly wean their children. And there are still dozens of children with sunken faces and bony limbs. But here’s the thing- we’re getting somewhere. I go out into one village, and a community health worker who I trained to screen for malnutrition explains everything to me and how she has been taking arm measurements of children and giving advice to mothers. I am stunned and pleased. I go out into another village: A child who had not come back to the CSCOM for follow up was shown to me. His mother started making him the porriage I showed here, and he gained about 5 pounds in two months! As healthy as can be, the mother agreed to come back for a follow up weighing where I told her I would take her baby’s picture and put it on the wall of the maternity. I also told her that I would give her baby a friendship bracelet that my sister and her lacrosse team made (now a standard gift for children graduating from the program). She came to the CSCOM, brought her little sister, who currently has a malnourished baby, and helped teach some of the mothers about nutrition. And oh, I forgot to mention, she walked 8 miles to do so- with a terribly deformed foot. Donni donni guys. Things are happenin.

3) Soap making/ Hand-washing

So my women’s group sold soap in the market for the first time the other day. It was a big hit. It’s great quality and the villagers are starting to catch on to it. The women on the other hand, are in no rush to really expand their business. Each women in my group is making about 5 cents a week profit on this, but are not really thinking of ways to limit their expenses or expand production. 5 cents more than they had last week, and most of them end up buying the soap for themselves anyway. But hey, donni donni. As of now, more and more people are washing their hands and every so often, they’ll take out our soap and talk about how nice it is. Next stop- school hand washing stations- (that is if they ever get the leak fix and the teachers go off of strike). Eh Allah!