Ninafundisha

This week I was able to participate in a health and first aid seminar where women from isolated villages came to learn information and techniques that may help to save lives in their villages. The topics consisted of: HIV/AIDs, infant care, infection prevention and treatment, unconscious victims, fractures & dislocations, and more.
Through this teaching experience, and others, I am finding it much more difficult to teach here than in the US….there are so many obstacles to overcome! I’ll give you some examples…
Because there is a lack of hygienic supplies in the villages (like clean bandages, gloves, CPR masks, etc.) protection becomes a much larger issue. We taught the women to make bandages out of clean sheets or fabric and to use bags (if they don’t have gloves) as a barrier to prevent the transfer of diseases. Because CPR masks are non-existent, performing CPR becomes a very controversial issue, especially with the high rates of HIV and TB in the area. They also lack other medical equipment, such as slings, splints and stretchers, so when I was teaching about fractures and dislocations I had to use local materials. We made splints out of palm branches, slings out of kangas (the fabric women wear as skirts), and stretchers out of long branches and flour sacks. You have to get creative when you don’t have endless medical supplies at your fingertips, but our “make-shift” supplies worked fairly well!

I experimented on Paul to find out which local materials work best.

Another problem is that few people, especially women, especially from the villages, are educated. Because of this, it took a painfully long time for them to copy information from the blackboard. I would have to teach, the translator translate, write on the board, then wait five minutes before continuing. This was quite a different pace than in the US university classrooms. Speaking of my translator, another problem is that the Swahili language lacks many medical words, simply because of the lack of medical treatment in the area. So instead of saying “splint” or “sling” I would have to explain the concept of the contraption in creative ways so they would understand.

All of this proved for a difficult teaching experience, however the most challenging obstacle is the lack of hospitals (and people’s interest in going to the hospital). In the states “first aid” is just that- temporary treatment until more advanced treatment, by more advanced personnel, can be given. Here, that is not the case. A broken leg or a dislocated shoulder is not worthy of a hospital visit, except in the most extreme cases (maybe if the bone was protruding out of the victim’s leg and he was losing lots of blood). Because of this, setting bones and reducing dislocations are often performed by the unqualified (if done at all). Additionally, what is the point of doing CPR when, performed alone (without AED and/or followed up hospital care), it rarely saves a person’s life. All I could do was teach the women how to recognize serious injuries and do basic treatment, when to cast (they make their own casts in the villages) and the times where they absolutely must go to the hospital. I had to convince them that for some injuries- despite the distance, the lack of money, and the justifiable skepticism in the hospital system- taking the victim to the doctor is their only chance of survival. Although I couldn’t provide them with closer hospitals, better doctors, or cheaper health care, I hope they learned information and techniques that will help save peoples lives.

Other teaching experiences are also proving difficult, mostly because it is hard for me, from a society that has everything, to relate to people from one that has next to nothing. I am currently teaching an English class two days a week. When trying to come up with ideas of topics, I thought of doing a lesson on “in the house”, which would include vocabulary such as table, chair, sink, stove, refrigerator and bed. It took me a minute to realize that although I have all of these things in my house, many of the students do not. I remembered the time that Mama Biju came over to teach me how to cook beans, and she didn’t know how to use the stove, or when Alias, wanting turn off the fan, needed to ask Paul for help- and decided it best that I skipped that lesson.

My children’s ministry lessons are no easier. I am constantly finding that things that American children can relate to, African children cannot. Wanting to relate my life to theirs, I told one group of kids, “when I was little, I was afraid of the dark and before bed would ask my mom to leave on a night light and the door open.” I was in a village where most homes didn’t have front doors or different rooms, let alone electricity. Oops.

Obviously, I am still learning and my eyes are still being opened to the differences between cultures. Although I am teaching (ninafundisha), I am learning just at much during these lessons as the students are.