January 10, 2011

--The days and nights are almost equal length, sundown about 6:30 pm and sunrise about 6:30 am, mornings are refreshingly cool.  This morning the mist is heavy with the distant trees silhouetted against the brightening sky. Morning coffee on the veranda is sublime.

--We were expected, and when we drove up the kids came spilling out of their classrooms to greet us. 

In a few short minutes the principal, Mr. Moukoulele, had the younger grades divided into two groups - half the kids stayed inside for First Aid, and the others went out for the Malaria Prevention game.

-The First Aid group learned the song about hand-washing and practiced by washing glitter “microbes” off their hands with a demonstration that soap was necessary to remove them because the “microbes” were still visible after washing with water only. With the help of “diarrhea dolls” the kids learned about dehydration as an effect of vomiting and diarrhea which are the result of microbes in food and water; they learned how to make and use oral rehydration with sugar, salt and water. Last they learned about wound care – cleaning and dressing “wounds” of red paint on their plastic wrapped arms. The objective was to teach the benefits of preventing infection introduction and transmission. The principal and teacher participated, and afterwards they were given a First Aid kit for the school.
--Meanwhile the other group of students met in the schoolyard to hear a story about a little girl who was bitten by a malaria mosquito and came down with malaria. They played a game in which some children were designated mosquitoes that chased and “bit” other kids. If a child was bit, they found the designated “doctors” who gave them “medicine” for their malaria, they could go to the free zone under a mosquito net They chased until everyone had either found refuge and avoided the mosquitoes under the net, or until those bitten had been treated and went on to the net. The objective was to teach them the value of sleeping under a mosquito net to avoid the anopheles mosquitoes which carry malaria and are out during the night hours.

--There are two more health education groups, HIV/AIDS and Understanding the Female Cycle – these will be presented to the older students at the secondary schools.
--We expected to meet the chief in Mangamba in the late afternoon so we went directly home - he was back in Douala. This visit is a formality that is expected, so probably before we leave we will meet with him and introduce ourselves. In the meantime, we and the village residents are encountering each other during walks, etc.