Malaria Mural: Using Art to Teach Health

I rode passed a talented community artists painting a school sign and immediately asked the driver to make a U-Turn. Michael Juma is a brilliant artist and art teacher and was overjoyed at my proposed idea of working with some of my students to make a malaria mural.

The mural is located at Nangina Mixed Primary School, a name you should all be very familiar with, I’ve talked about this school and the projects I’ve done there here, here, here, here and here. The class 1-8 school population is 732 total: 374 boys and 358 girls. The early childhood development/ECD classes have approximately 150 students and there are 16 teachers working and volunteering at the school bringing the schools total population to approximately 898.

4 students who expressed an interest in art first drafted their own mural designs which we used as inspiration for the final design. These students assisted in the actual painting of the mural. The winning sketch that heavily contributed to the design of the mural was from Reagan Omondi a student in class 8/8th grade.

The days of painting served as a functional art class. Michael explained every step and students were able to ask questions. This was the first time the students were receiving formal art training. They learned a little about color theory, scaling and being creative in their designs.

The mural was started on March 10th and completed on March 12th 2014.

29th Birthday Celebration in Ethiopia

I’ve heard African Americans say they’ve come to this incredible continent, Africa, and have a feeling of being at home. I’ve visited several countries all of which I instantly loved and none of which I felt instantly at home.

It has sparked my curiosity of my ethnic background though.

This will not be a sad post, but I want to say this, if you are able to trace your ethnic background to your country/countries of origin that is incredible. To be able to say you’re Greek or Haitian places you in a location and it gives you tradition. It is incredibly painful to be asked where your family is from and only be able to respond with a blank stare, or my most recent coping mechanism of just picking a brown country so I don’t have to say “I don’t know”.

….but when I got to Ethiopia and walked around Addis I kinda had that at home feeling. Not just because people kept coming to me speaking Amharic, well maybe that’s part of it or because it’s a universal thought that Ethiopian women are drop dead gorgeous and I want to be too…well maybe that’s also part of it. I don’t know what it is, we just looked related and I’ve never been to a place where 1/3rd of the country looks like they could be my cousins.

The trip was in celebration of my 29th birthday and I was able to fly in on my actual birthday and might spark a trend of me celebrating my next birthdays on new soils. I went with a couple of my closest friends and fellow volunteers, in physical location and in heart.

It was a trip filled with delicious coffeer, an incredible amount of culture and some luxury. We saw Lucy’s Bones, the Lalibella Rock Churches which I’m pretty sure has made it to one of those wonder of the world lists, climbed the Semein mountain, got amazing and affordable beauty services at Boston Day Spa, visited the Yirhamne Kristos church which is carved out of a cave and is the home of over 500 skeletons of past pilgrims, ate at Ben a Beba restaurant and enjoyed it’s incredible architecture, saw the most amazing shoulder dancing in Bahir Dar and we made friends in every city we went to.

…don’t get me started on the juice. I almost want other countries to call their stuff liquid from fruit or fruit flavored beverage…juice should be reserved for Ethiopia.

I loved it there and I hope life takes me back time and time again.

Camp GLOW: Girls Leading Our World…in Funyula

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud” -Coco Chanel

I coordinated a Camp GLOW: Girls Leading Our World, in my local community where we focused on character development, health/healthy living and professional development. Camp GLOW is a PEPFAR and Peace Corps initiative, they hold large regional camps annually in Kenya. I applied for a grant through World Connect to host a local GLOW in my community.

You might remember a few of my students were selected to attend Peace Corps Kenya’s Western Region GLOW. In the regional camps each volunteer can nominate 2-3 students to attend. My students came back and the hundreds that remained wondered why they didn’t have the opportunity. I’ve never had a project feel so necessary. I’m happy I was able to host a project encouraged by my community.

130 girl students ranging from ages 10-19
9 participating schools
5 days to impart knowledge and have a ton of fun
6 volunteer trainers who lead sessions for 3 days
6 community professionals who participated in the career panel
160 bed nets distributed/sold in a community where finding nets is a challenge unless you’re pregnant.
96 bottles of water guard distributed to encourage clean water practices

The stats above are some quantifiable measures of what I was able to achieve with help from my fellow volunteers and community members.

Camp Schedule:

Day 1: Registration

Day 2: Character Development

• Self Esteem and Body Image
• Peer Pressure
• Self Expression Art Project/Self-Portraits
• Gender Roles

Day 3: Health

• Menstruation and Reusable Sanitary Pads
• Malaria
• HIV/AIDS/STIs
• Healthy Relationships

Day 4: Professional Development

• Goal Setting and Vision Boards
• Entrepreneurship
• Crafts/Developing Skills to Create Goods
• Career Panel

Day 5: Community Presentation Day

• Student testimonials
• Art Presentation
• Talent/Entertainment
• Speech: Area Representative
• Speech: Area Chief
• Health Presentation: Water and Sanitation
• Health Presentation: Malaria Prevention
• Pineapple Eating Contest
• Presentation of Awards

I heard of the transformation that occurs during Camp GLOW. I feel so privileged to have seen these girls come out of their shells, find their voices, and work on their talents. I transformed as well.

I don’t want to paint a picture of helpless girls and women. I don’t think I could if I tried. These girls and women who carry water and firewood for miles, who work in farms and care for cattle, who are in charge of the families health and nutrition and sanitation, these girls are strong. Their schedules are intense and usually start before the sun rises. However, when you try to understand the stagnation in their ability to be as successful as they have the potential to be you can look to some limitations placed on them by societal gender roles, lack of education and education opportunities, lack of resources, lack of an accurate account of their self worth.

I never want to forget a moment of the time I had with them.

 

 

 

What I Like Right Now: Peace Corps PSA – Conversations

What I will be contributing to every conversation, verbatim.

Potential Career Path: Funeral Photographer

I’ve done some unexpected things as a Peace Corps Volunteer all of which pale in comparison to my day as a funeral photographer. I just wanted to help my family and they wanted pictures to remember this event.

I was hesitant to take pictures of people crying or saying their final goodbye. Grieving is such a personal experience. Also, I may have been grieving more for this woman who’s name I didn’t know until an hour into the 3rd day of the funeral celebration and whose casket was in a tent 5 feet from my house than many of the people present.

Death is just dealt with differently here and I think they may have it right or at least a way that’s less traumatizing than we do in the west. They accept it as a part of life. It’s not something to fall apart over. It’s a time to celebrate. I don’t want to paint a picture that there was no grieving because her children were completely destroyed the way anyone would be when they lose their mother.

I think I was successful. My Mama and Baba were very impressed with the photos and since I printed so many other family members and friends were able to get some. If I helped them celebrate her life than it was completely worth my discomfort.

 

More Kids with Bears

I had a few remaining bears after my distribution. Here are my faves.

What I Like Right Now: Draped Up

It’s no secret that podcasts are my guilty pleasure; I learn from them and I’m entertained by them so scratch that they’re my pride pleasure. My latest find is NPR’s Microphone Check. I’m on a quest to fall in love with hip hop.

They did an interview with Bun B and there was a part where he defined some of the terms we hear in his music and many songs in the genre. I was introduced to “draped up” and loved it completely and instantly.

Let me pull an excerpt from the interview.

MUHAMMAD: Alright, another one of your words: draped up.

BUN B: Draped up. Initially draped up is your clothing. Make sure that you’re fresh. But then, if you’re really into your car and you want your car to be fresh — so the same way you want your car to have a new pair of shoes, that’s the wheels. Everything that you would want yourself to stand out with, you want other elements of your life to stand out with — the house you live in, the car you drive, the man or woman you date, you want all these things to reflect you in the highest form. That’s what draped up is.

My car is draped up, that means my car looks good. I’m draped up, I look good. My woman’s draped up, she looks good. You come in my house, my house is draped up. I got some nice furniture, a couple of pieces on the wall — my house is draped up.

And draped up seems so anti-Peace Corps, we don’t live a life of luxury. But the thing is…I have a marketing degree because just as much as I’m about business I’m really about presentation. My love of interior design, culinary arts, fashion, and even this blog is my need and want for things to look good. It’s all presentation and that’s exactly what draped up speaks to.

Thanks Bun B. I like that one. My next party invitation will read: Dress Code: Draped Up.

Mother Bear Project. Putting Smiles on my Kids Faces

Two titles are better than one.

“The Mother Bear Project is dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the form of a hand-knit or crocheted bear.”  I love the objective of this organization and I’m so thrilled to have been able to work with them.

Though I had planned with the school staff, bear distribution day was a complete surprise to the early childhood development/ECD/preschool class. They always see me and I’m never there to see them, my life skills class is geared towards the older students. That day was different. OH MAN I love those kids…they smile from an honest place.

I had such a blast. Normally I would have created a health lesson but Mother Bear really wants a day that’s centered around the joy of getting a gift out of love. I had entirely too much fun. We played and colored and ran outside. Each student went home with a bear and the feeling that people all over the world are rooting for their health and happiness.

The mother bear project was recently highlighted in the Huffington Post. Read it HERE. Teespoon readers who also knit and/or crotchet, please consider supporting this project by making a bear.

OVPs: Rae’s Jiggers Project

What have I been doing in my silence? Living. A friend reminded me that’s what we should be doing and I quite agree.

Sometime’s I want to do it all. I want to tackle each and every one of Kenya’s health and social ills and solve them. Then I want to move to another country and solve their ills too. I can’t, sadly. I’ve realized one way to do my small part is to help volunteers with their projects when I can. OVPs = other volunteer projects.

Rae has done fantastic work for the last 3-6 months coordinating a mass jiggers campaign in her area. Jiggers is a sand flea that burrows into the skin, usually the hands and feet, and without treatment it could lead to immobility or an inability to use the limbs where the infection has progressed.

There were some children who crawled to the treatment area because they were in too much pain to walk. There were over 200 community members treated. The photos below show the treatment day. The treatment was conducted in phases. Each patient’s infected areas was washed with soap and water and their nails were clipped. The newly cleaned areas received their first 15 minute soak in the purple dying potassium permanganate followed by oiling with vaseline. Each patient was sent home with all the goods and medicine to continue their treatment as directed by the community health workers. Later each home was fumigated to kill the flea and each patient was provided with a pair of shoes. Not wearing shoes in an un-cemented area is usually the dangerous practice that leads to the infection.

I would love to do this project in my community after seeing the extreme cases. I had a chat with my public health worker thinking we didn’t have jiggers and was told that shame, poverty and the advanced cases where people can’t walk prevent treatment. I think we need to do something about this. I’m not sure if time or funding will permit me to execute this project but I will continue to help Rae in anyway I can as this will be a focus of her work for our remaining 6 months in Kenya.

It was such a transformation. As they left children and adults alike were laughing and so hopeful.

 

What I Like Right Now: Kristina May’s Wire Art

I fantasize about my next apartment. It’s design. The monthly dinner parties I’ll host. I want every piece in my house to tell a story or at least spark a conversation, that’s not a unique thought I read it some where and it just felt right.

Then I saw it in the 2nd photo in this post and instantly started Googling. In a surprisingly few amount of clicks I was on Kristina May’s site losing my mind. I love the wire garments. Please God, let me be the proud owner of one of these pieces one day. That day is not today, but today I can share. Enjoy!