On Office Work and Sustainability

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." –Mother Teresa

I’m spending the day in the MMHF offices again (I did so yesterday as well), but I don’t mind not going out to the field so much. I’ll have plenty of opportunity to work in Kashongi as the summer wears on, but for now, it’s most important for me to be here, where I can more effectively work on our WSH education campaign.

The work has been going really well. Because WSH is a new project this year, all of our roles--I was placed in charge of training community educators--are much more flexible than in SM, and we weren’t (and still aren’t) exactly sure how everything would pan out. Tuesday, our first day of the intervention, provided us with a much clearer idea of what we need to do in the upcoming weeks.

After discussions with the CVCs (Community Volunteer Coordinators), we decided upon a poster campaign to complement brief educational talks at the openings of rainwater tanks; the CVCs themselves thought this might be particularly effective, especially since families are likely to hang posters on their walls, which tend to be sparsely decorated. As a result, we’ve been working on small posters for a household’s kitchen area and sanitation facilities, each which will emphasize relevant and important components of water safety and hygiene. For example, the sanitation facilities poster stresses the importance of washing one’s hands after using the toilet, while the kitchen poster demonstrates how to properly treat and store water as to prevent recontamination, a common problem. The number and size of these posters is TBD; it depends on our available funds and the price of having these posters printed.

I’m actually quite enthusiastic about our work. There’s an aspect to it that is far more sustainable than SM. In four (well, now just over three) weeks, we’ll be done distributing bednets and medications, our midwives will pack up, and the antenatal services will end as our follow-ups begin. Don’t get me wrong--SM is still extremely important, especially with the limited availability of antenatal care in Kashongi. But four weeks out of 12 months in a year is very, very short.

My hope is that with the distribution of posters and the installation of these rainwater harvesting tanks (and the training/creation of community committees responsible for their upkeep and maintenance), WSH will have a greater impact that lasts far beyond our departure. Many things can go wrong--the committees shirk on their responsibilities and the tanks break down within months, people don’t or are unable to practice good hand-washing habits, unsafe containers continue to be used for water storage--but there is certainly reason for hope. And hope I will.