A Little About My Work

my town from the mountain behind it :)



I realize that I have not mentioned much about the work that I am supposed to be doing here. My first six months in site were to be dedicated to learning the local language and to assessing community needs as they relate to health. I am currently in the sixth month of service and I am rather disappointed with the way that my language has progressed. I have, however, been assessing community needs.
My job is really that of a job educator. I can educate through whatever medium suits my community best, whether that be by health education at the elementary school, tea talks, or whatever else I can think of. I don't yet have permission to teach at the school, but it is the place where I most want to work. In the meantime I have been hanging out at the clinic and doing informal education primarily with the women of the weaving cooperative in my site. The women are very curious about the causes of hypertension and high cholesterol, so I have been telling them what little I know about these topics. In the future (iunshallah) I want to talk to more women about these topics and others such as birth control and STIs. I was surprised to learn that many women have STIs, but don't know what they are. Also surprising was the fact that many women use birth control, but most use only the pill and use it rather irregularly. I want to tell them about its proper usage and also to inform them about alternative methods.
In the schools, I want to focus on three topics: dental hygiene, general hygiene, and nutrion. These are all topics that I feel are good to focus on for kids because at this age bad habits can still be changed.
I will write more about my work in the future.