Igniting Passion

We’ve spent the past three days teaching public health education modules at primary schools in Adigbo Kofe (a village situated on Lake Volta), Goviefe, and Peki Agbateh. The school in Adigbo Kofe was the most rural and impoverished community we’ll be visiting this week, with most of the classes taking place in rudimentary, open structures in a cleared area covered with clay-colored dust. Although we were greeted with the most primitive set-up of all the schools during our visit to Adigbo Kofe, I don’t think anyone on the team will forget the children drumming a welcome ceremony for us during the first class break, or the heartfelt, moving speech given by the headmaster at the end of the day. At times, I think it’s easy to lose sight of the purpose of the public health education week because the results aren’t as immediately tangible or evident as the results of the clinic week, but the headmaster reminded us in the most simple, direct way of the importance of our time with the students. He told us that it was a day that no one at the school would ever forget, and let us know that we ignited a passion for learning and a deep curiosity about medicine and health in his students. I can’t think of a better check on our collective insecurities about our worth and value to the communities we visited, and I have been repeating the headmaster’s words and praise to the team at every opportunity.

The drum and dance circle- the older students drummed and led the dancing and singing, and the younger students were just impossibly adorable. Video to come soon!

We were impressed with the level of knowledge of understanding and curiosity of the students in each of the villages, but teaching the “Germs and First Aid” module to the P6 (sixth graders) in Peki Agbateh today was particularly memborable. They were far too advanced in their scientific knowledge for the simple lesson we had planned, so we adapted and modified our lesson. Instead of asking if soap kills germs, we taught the students about micelles, detergents, and the biochemical mechanisms employed by soaps to clear pathogens. Instead of asking if the students knew what comes out of a wound (blood), we discussed the circulatory system and the methods by which the body repairs ruptured vessels. The students were engaged and participating with gusto, and Max, Alishia, Kristina and I enjoyed the challenge of lifting our lesson to the talent and intelligence level of our students.

Amanda, Will, and Lindsey using a mosquito net to teach the students about malaria during the "Malaria and Water Sanitation" module.

Though our time teaching in the schools has been rewarding, it has also been heartbreaking to witness firsthand the conditions under which many of the students are trying to gain a useful and well-rounded education. Many of them don’t have school supplies, shoes, or food, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a more respectful, well-behaved, happy group of children in any of the American communities in which we were all raised. It has been a challenge to keep ourselves focused on educating the children when we’re often distracted by some of the more obvious medical issues they face, including hydrocephalus, a poorly healed ankle fracture that causes a 5^th grade girl to walk on her ankle instead of her foot, and innumerable open wounds, ulcers, scrapes, and cuts. We’ve done our best to take care of the medical issues we can easily address with an alcohol prep pad, clean water, and a band-aid, but it’s clear to all of us that we’ll have our work cut out for us next week when we revisit the villages for clinic days.

~Shikha