HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(i know it's - what?- three weeks late, but better late than never, no?)

the terms of my service are until august 2008, therefore, i am down to my last six months of Peace Corps. unbelievable. Still focusing on my two main projects: health classes with primary school girls and girls club at the secondary school.

because i am not actually a health volunteer and have no public health training, i have been reading everything i can get my hands on to assess the needs that should be addressed in my health sessions and how to plan them. i recently read a book, "Dancing Skeletons" by Katherine A. Dettwyler, which was a great illustration of so, so many of the health obstacles i see everyday in my village - the poor nutrition of families, lack of varied diets, poor maternal health leading to sickly children, etc... Not everything corresponds to my experience in Burkina because her research takes place in Mali (even though the book is subtitled Life and Death in West Africa, it's really just Child Heath and Nutrition in Mali... but that's so much less dramatic), but it was wonderful to be able to contextualize my very overwhelming experience in Gorgdaji with the work of a nutritional antropologist in a similar West African country. You can read it to get an idea of how very basic the health and nutrition needs of my villagers are.

So, with my primary school girls, i have been working with them on hygiene because many people in my village are not aware of the connection between proper hygiene and better health, specifically through illness prevention. later in the year, i would like to address malaria because so many people are so often sick with malaria but dont take the proper precautions. information is available but the people do not know how to incorporate these ideas into practice. maybe if the children start to learn how to do things differently, then maybe one day there will be adults who do things differently. since the age range of the girls is so huge, 8-13 years old, i try to make the class as interactive as possible. we sing songs, read stories, discuss pictures of poor hygiene and anything else i can think of to avoid having these children just memorize some information, rather than understanding how specific concepts are releveant and important to their lives and maybe someday change their behaviour. i have no idea if i am making any impact at all. and i will never know.

since classrooms are typically so overcrowded, girls are often disadvantaged and teachers are overwhelmed and/or ridiculously unmotivated or discouraged, i aim, at the most minimum, to be able to give the girls attention and guidance they would not have the opportunity to experience anywhere else. i make a point of having the class applaud girls who participate and the class as a whole recognize when they've done something well. also, i try to get the girls to encourage and help each other. my last health session evolved into a small reading group after the class was dismissed. about 7 or 8 girls stayed behind to read the book that i had presented in class, so each of them got the chance to read about half the book by themselves, with my almost undivided attention, going over every word with them. you have no idea what a rare opportunity this was for these girls. it was wonderful.

at the high school, we have talked about how to make good decisions, such as, what are the steps one takes when they have something difficult to decide, who can be resources or role models, etc. we also discuss behaviour and characteristics that will help the girls succeed in school and in life. the girls are engaged and fun to work with. when i started to work with them at the end of the last school year, i focused on theatre activities just to get them to open up a little and do something different. they really enjoyed it, so i was thinking maybe i could incorporate some of that into what we do now, maybe as role plays. next semester, i hope to add AIDS/HIV education, since they are a very vulnerable demographic, and maybe some reproductive health, but only with the support of the health clinic staff.

ok, i have 5 minutes left at this computer, so even though i had more to say, i'll leave you all here. thanks for reading. thank you for all your support and love, mailed, emailed or just telepathically beamed to me from such long distances. i need it and appreciate it so much. thank you.

below is a picture from inside my house. i have mud brick walls which i chalk up with pictures and quotes when my insanity strikes me. the quote is from a book i recently read by V.S. Naipaul, called Between Father and Son. I really enjoyed it.

oh, no! 1 minute left. Gotta go!