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“Chew and Pour” No More!

“Chew and Pour” refers to the teaching method typical in most Ghanaian school systems that focuses on repetition and memorization. It is the difference between a lecture versus a hands-on activity. In the past year, we have been trying to focus our interactions with the community away from lectures and towards conversations. Instead of lecturing about the importance of clean water, we have been emphasizing more on the conversation around clean water and allowing our communities to come to the same conclusions. “You should ____ ” and “Stop doing that” have turned into “Why do you ____?” and “Do you think ____? ” . We’ve learned that it is a more effective way of sharing an idea or concept if they are able to draw their own conclusions through participating in an active engaged dialog. This month, we tried to take this technique of conversation and curiosity and apply it to the way we talk about children’s education. So, this year is the start of our Children’s Education Month!

Eric having a little fun after finishing a Children’s Education.

This years Children’s Education Month ran from June 20th to July 26th which is the last day before kids (kindergarten, primary, and junior high) children go on break. We kicked off the month by introducing a Children’s Education and Parent Discussion Handbooks to our staff to start trying out in the field. It included key concepts to go over and suggestions for types of questions to help encourage participation in the conversation. The goals of these conversations was to learn about the challenges that parents and children face in having clean water available for children/getting children to drink clean water, how to promote good WASH habits, and ways Saha could help support the effort to have children drink clean water. The children are the future of all our communities, so it is important for us to help encourage these good habits and understanding at an early age, so they could continue to on to a strong adulthood.

This year we were able to do Children’s Education for 16 Villages: Nekpegu, Tohinayili, Kalinka, Baiyili, Dawunyili, Sagbarigu, Lambo, Juni, Yendanyili, Jagberin, Tijo, Tindan, Bamvim, Wambong, and Warivi. In the classrooms, we printed out “Commitment to Clean Water” posters where students pledged their commitment to clean water.Some of the Children’s Educations happened in schools some were done informally with a collection of kids in a village. Education can happen anywhere, not just in the classroom! (I would argue that most learning happens outside of the classroom anyway.)

In addition to the formal gathering of children, we also encouraged monitors to talk to kids and parents in their households while they conduct their normal monitoring visits. When I went with Nestor to Sahanaayili, we talked to each household about children having access to clean water. Every household we visited had a clean water cup/container just for their kids. The parents would watch over the children to make sure they were taking care of their cup/container properly and not recontaminating the water. It was so great to see! The children were also excited about it. We talked about one of the challenges that many households face: Children playing with the tap. The households in Sahanaayili each said that they would serve the children what until they were old enough to learn how to use the tap properly, then they would be shown what to do and what not to do. The older kids were helpful in making sure the younger ones used it properly. This hope is to help communities who are struggle with advice from those who have been doing well.

One of the challenges we learned that children face with regards to drinking clean water is that sometimes they have a hard time telling their parents that they should have clean water in the household for fear of it becoming disrespectful. So, even if they knew that they should be drinking water, they couldn’t always because their parents wouldn’t get the water. This insight reinforces our efforts to talk to parents more and frame more conversations around the children and their health. Additionally, Wahab (who was the one who had this conversation with the kids) also made a great point saying if your parents were to walk on a hole and potentially break their foot. It is okay to bring up things that are good for their health. Approaching children’s education from both angles (parents and kids) has been a great tool to encourage children to drink clean water.

Prototype in the house by Seidu, Rhiana, and Kathryn
Prototype in the community: Sita and Theo
Prototype in the school: Simply and Heidi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several Saha staff signed up for an online course called Prototyping 201 hosted by Acumen which overlapped with Children’s Education Month. We used this coincidence as an opportunity! For our first practice of prototyping, we took an idea and made physical prototype out of it and our inspiration was Children’s Education Month. So, we brainstormed ideas on how to talk about drinking clean water with children in 3 situations: at home, in school, and in the community. The team was able to come up with fantastic ideas! For the conversations at home, Seidu, Rhiana, and Kathryn prototype stickers for children to indicate good and bad WASH habits. In the schools, Simply and I prototype a coloring book called “Healthy Hadija helps Silly Sana” where a little girl helps her friend learn how to keep clean water clean in the home.  For the community conversation, Theo and Sita developed prototype for a microscope to help kids, parents, and everyone see what is really in their water so they can learn that clear does not mean clean. It was an incredibly fun exercise and amazing to see the creativity of the team! Hopefully these creative ideas keep going and eventually turn into new (fun!) ways of communicating our ideas to our communities.

The biggest thing we’ve learned this year is to just talk about it! Incorporate these questions about clean water for children in our everyday interactions in the villages. Engage with the children. Engage with the parents. There is a lot to learn from them when we get them involved in the conversation. The hope is not just to have these conversations one a month, but every day!

Oh what a month! I would like to thank the team for their input on the handbooks an going out and having these school educations and these conversations. Thanks for all your hard work this month.

I’ll end with a quote from my favorite song in preschool, why this was my favorite song as a preschool is beyond me, but young Heidi was very wise “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.”- “The Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston

 

2012 Fall Fellowship Comes to a Close

A sad day in Ghana… Steven, Nicole & Tiffany headed out of Ghana last night. Joe, Lubna, Lauren and I are spending our last day in Accra before heading out tonight. And Britty and Jessie are off traveling….. bringing the Fall Fellowship to a close!

We are so thankful for Fall Fellows efforts over these past few months! Because of your dedication and hard work we were able to reach two more villages! It was such a successful trip where our fellows were able to bring clean drinking water to 1,752 people! WOW! What an accomplishment!

From your long days in the field, the CWS BBQ/Halloween Party/Eid-al-adha celebration , the cultural dance party, to simple nights over debrief we had such blast with you guys! We wish you all the best in the future and are so glad to have you a part of the CWS Alumi Crew!

The 2012 Fall Fellows!

Voices from the Field: Team Tijo (Britty, Steven, Nicole and Tiffany)

Team Tijo on opening day!

Team Tijo’s opening day happened on Wednesday. They had prepared for days making sure the polytank was filled to the brim. With 187 households it was important to get the polytank all the way full to be sure to have enough water for everyone. They arrived early Wednesday morning to a line of people waiting to fill their safe storage containers for the first time! When they turned the tap to fill the first bucket nothing came out. The polytank was completely empty. The team was so disappointed and the village was extremely embarrassed. Someone had emptied all of the clean drinking water out of the polytank! Despite this disappointment, opening day continued! The women and fellows had the 4 blue drums of treated alum water to chlorinate and sell. There was still a long line of excited customers waiting to taste the clean drinking water. The center was able to fill 50 buckets with water and the rest of the people were very understanding as to what happened. The women were going to head back to the center that afternoon to go ahead a treat more water. No one had ever found out what had happened, but since that incident the chief had a village meeting and all things continue to run smoothly.

Here is what Britty, Steven, Nicole & Tiffany had to say about it:

After Tijo’s challenging Opening Day, we went into the village with the hope that everything was resolved. We were pleasantly surprised to find that all of the families really understood and followed the lessons we offered. All buckets were cleaned prior to being filled with water from the polytank, and placed on a platform with a clean drinking cup put on top. In addition to their excellent practices, the families informed us that they enjoyed the taste of the water. One woman even stated that her stomach felt better after drinking the treated water.

It was very exciting for the team to see the positive outcome of our hard work leading up to Opening Day. We were amazed by how well everything was received by the villagers.

Opening Day in Tijo!

Time is Flying By

Time is flying by in Tamale! It was just last week that we were finishing up orientation and now opening days are almost here!

Steven, Tiffany, Nicole and Britty on the way to their village

One of the words that we like to use to describe our fellows is plucky! Their ability to go with the flow, find humor in frustrating situations, and make it through the heat and long days in the village is what makes our fellows SO awesome! These two teams are definitely the perfect display of that! The two villages the fall fellows are implementing into are Tijo and Tindan. They are both in the same direction and about and hour and half outside of Tamale. With the long drive and about 8 hour days in the field both these teams are the definition of plucky! Even though tired from their days, all the fellows return back to Gillbt in time for dinner with positive attitude and great stories!

Tiffany and some men of Tijo snap a proud pic in front of thier finishedpolytank stand
Tiffany and some men of Tijo snap a proud pic in front of thier finishedpolytank stand

Both teams have completed their polytank stands and training of the women. Today the teams are off distributing their safe storage containers from household to household. The distribution of buckets is a very important time in the implementation process. This is the first time you are able to get one-on-one with each household to not only explain the water treatment center but to also answer any questions they may have.

 Kids of Tijo! No doubt that they love the fellows company over the past few days!
Kids of Tijo! No doubt that they love the fellows company over the past few days!

Britty, Steven, Nicole, Tiffany and, translator Shak have been hard at work getting ready for opening day on Wednesday! They are implementing into the village Tijo, which is one of CWS’ largest villages to date with 187 households. Because of their number of households they needed to add ina few more days of safe storage distribution.

Joe, Lauren, Jessie, Lubna and translator, Wahab, aside from some car troubles, have breezing through their implementation into Tindan. Tindan has 37 total households. They are having their opening day tomorrow and we can not wait to hear how the big day goes!

Assembling the CWS safe storage containers
Assembling the CWS safe storage containers

In the next few days you will  be hearing from these teams directly to get a real sense of their time in their village!

All of the pictures below are of Team Tijo! I have yet to have the chance to snag one of the teammates from Tindan to get pics to upload—those will hopefully be up by tomorrow!

-Sam