Malaria Program

Malaria is a serious problem here.  One Tanzanian dies of malaria every 5 minutes.  It's the #1 child killer, with 1 in 5 under 5 years old dying of malaria-related diseases.  It is especially dangerous for pregnant women and their babies.  The women are susceptible to certain strains and may become dangerously anemic.  Without treatment, the disease can be passed to the child and contribute to low birth weight and other problems.

Malaria is somewhat less prevalent in our community than in other areas of the country, due to our high altitude and dry climate, but it is still a major health problem.  I have information on malaria and a DVD of a Swahili-language movie with a malaria theme that was given to us by the Peace Corps, so one of the teachers at our school and I decided to hold a malaria information session last Saturday. 

Of course, no enterprise here takes place without bumps along the road.  I had given the DVD to my teacher friend for her to preview.  She liked and approved of it, so we planned the program.  On Friday, she brought the DVD into work and showed it to one of the other teachers who share her office.  Then she had to go to class, and the other teacher said she would put the DVD into my friend's spacious handbag, which she left on her desk.   We planned the event for Saturday morning at 9:00.  My friend arrived somewhat late, and distressed, as she could not find the DVD.  Not in her purse, not in her office, not in her home.  She went to the house of the teacher who had been looking at it, and was told that it had indeed been put in her handbag as promised.  Then she commenced calling the other teachers who shared her office.  Finally, one of them reported that she had seen a new teacher take the DVD out of her purse.  Well, we didn't have this teacher's phone number.  We ended up calling the vice-principal, who not only gave us his number but also called the man himself.  Luckily, he lives nearby, and he gave the DVD to a messenger who finally delivered it to us.

A couple things to keep in mind.  Foremost, this is a communal society.  People are used to sharing things as a matter of course.  In my classroom, students pass pens pencils, erasers, and rulers back and forth constantly.  Often, these things do not get back to their original owners.  But it's polite to make a request before taking something.  So, my friend was distressed and worried about the event because it interfered with our program, but she was not as furious as I would have been about someone taking something from my purse.  The other thing is that people are generally not confrontational here.  She simply talked to the culprit quietly and got it back.  I managed not to say, "Where I come from, that's called STEALING!"   

So, we finally recovered the DVD,  and were able to start the program at 11:00.  I had been entertaining the students who had arrived earlier by playing music and showing photos that we had stored on our laptop, but we were all happy to get started.

Forty-four students, mostly girls, participated in the program.  We watched the movie, then had a discussion about malaria in Tanzania, disease prevention, malaria in pregnancy, and the myths and superstitions surrounding the disease.  (For example:  sleeping under in insecticide-treated mosquito net makes a man impotent!)  Students loved the movie and enjoyed and learned from the discussion.  I hope that it will help them protect themselves and their families from this disease.