WASH Clubs and Our Peer Educators

Yesterday I had another great day working on one of our projects. 

The YCI intern that was here over the summer started a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) program just outside of Morogoro Town in a peri-urban community called Chamwino. Within the community of Chamwino there are major sanitation and hygiene issues. Because of the lack of sanitation and hygiene practices the people of Chamwino are left vulnerable to a wide range of diseases, viruses and parasites. 

Imagine the typical Canadian elementary school. You might see 500-700 students; running, drinkable water; enough toilets for student and teacher use; soap to wash your hands; and possibly a lack of dirt floors and holes in the roof.

Now imagine a school compound that has three different primary schools on it, with three different administrations, that combined are to educate 2800 students with less than 20 classrooms. These classrooms have dirt floors, holes in the roof and are full of broken bench desks. The ratio of students to teachers is close to 200 students per teacher, which is a shocking statistic but maybe not as shocking as the ratio of students to working toilets/pit latrines. These 2800 students are sharing a combined 8 pit latrines (which in Canada we might call outhouses). These toilets do not have doors and are lacking running water to wash waste away and for students to wash their hands when they are finished using the toilet.

The conditions at the Chamwino primary schools are atrocious. Our YCI intern, Jamie Van Egmond, developed a WASH program at the schools to not only start up five WASH clubs and increase knowledge and awareness of the importance of clean water, proper sanitation and healthy hygiene but also to provide a group of local high school students an opportunity to volunteer as peer educators for these students.

Check out Jamie’s blog at http://thesustainablepath.wordpress.com for more information on the project start-up.

This is Alex, a peer educator, teaching his WASH club how to play a game. Note the latrines in the background.

This is one of the larger programs we are working on here in Morogoro. Jamie passed the torch to us this past month as she completed her internship and we hit the ground running. With Duncan’s knowledge of health, Julie’s environmental background and my experience in training and development, we have come together to really help these students succeed. 

Julie is showing one of the clubs how they can keep their latrine clean and sanitary.

Every week, we make the trek to Chamwino. Two separate but equally uncomfortable, hot , sweaty, bumpy, and crowded Daladala rides just to get out to this community. Currently most NGOs will not even enter the community as it is still recognized as one of the most corrupt communities with high rate of drug abuse and crime. We arrive at the primary schools and meet up with our peer educators that have quite the hike to get to the WASH clubs. We are usually swarmed by the school children in the yard that want to see the mzungu (white person) and try to get a “tano” (fist bump). Once we have all arrived we split off and facilitate WASH club lessons at each primary school.

We taught the kids how to play Maji, Maji, Sabuni (Water, Water, Soap...Duck Duck Goose). The kids never play during school so they love when we let them play and have fun!

Some of my WASH club kiddies from Kambarage Shule Primary

The peer educators are amazing youth. They are volunteering their time to help the next generation of Chamwino students try to lead a better, healthier life than people in the past. They are true leaders and each come with their own special skills and characteristics. They have truly been a highlight of my time here. I had the opportunity to prepare, develop and facilitate a leadership workshop for them this past month and it was such a rewarding experience. 

One of my buddies, Freddy, teaching a WASH lesson.

Yesterday, we bussed them out of Chamwino over to our office in Kilakala. They were all happy, excited and grateful to be offered this training and had no complaints that they had to sacrifice their Saturday afternoon. The students arrived on time and prepared to participate, which says a lot about this group of students as arriving on time is not as much of a priority here in Morogoro.

Grace and Kadija - Blind Drawing - Grace is trying to explain to Kadija to draw a pair of eye glasses without telling her what the picture is. The students loved this activity. School for them is very much rote learning and school is never "fun".

Alex and Eddie may have had an unrecognizable flower in the end but they had fun!

The workshop was amazing and the students were attentive, anxious to learn and ask questions and were ever so appreciative for everything YCI has offered them. A couple even asked if they could volunteer with YCI in the future.

Left to Right (top): Winnie, Fatma, Kadija, Duncan, Irene, Me, Prudensiana, David, Freddy, and Joshua                   (bottom): Julie, Delta, Grace, Eddie, and Alex

Another great experience working with amazing youth. Every day I am inspired and yesterday was definitely one of my prouder moments in the work I am doing over here.

“Thank you to all of you from Canada, who take time to volunteer to us. I feel joy because you help me help my younger brothers and sisters in Chamwino. I did not feel confidence until you let me have this opportunity.” – Freddy Sanga

“I want to be a leader but before I not think it was to happen. You help me know how to be a leader and I feel confidence that I too can be a leader. I want to volunteer and help my people. Thank you.” - Delta Rabiely