In her last mail package to us, my mom sent a frisbee, which we used for the first time this past Saturday. What a big hit!!! All the kids in our neighborhood came out to play, and we had a great time throwing the frisbee around all afternoon. Here are some photos I took of Shom and the kids:
Shom, with Rosbin (our host-brother, in black), Juan, Lucia, and Jessica.---
Rosbin, winding up for a big throw.---
Lucia having some fun, while Rosbin waits impatiently for his turn.---
Running after the frisbee.---
Rosbin, waiting for a good catch.---
...take that!
2 comments:
Greetings Elena
Nueva Providencia is one of our 8 villages we want to help. We are supporting World Neighbors who will be there 5 days a week for 6 years.
Some comments. We do quantitative coliform testing -- all the literature you will read will require quantitative testing if you are to publish your findings (I recommend you do) -- visit www.micrologylabs.com. Next - what in-house storage containers are they using -- Nueva Providencia had a horrendous number of open water containers to breed mosquitos. What point-of-use water purification methods do they use -- if they use MiOX2 system it would be free for them. What kind of latrines are they using. Visit www.hesperian.org for styles of latrine building. Also, the number one case of respiratory diseases is using stoves in their homes without chimineys -- this is the #1 cause of infant mortality in the country with diarrhea being 2nd.
Cheers.
Mark F Campbell MD
Dr. Campbell
Thank you for your comments. Nueva Providencia is one of the poorest communities in the muncipality of San Lucas, and I am glad that you and your team will be focusing efforts there. The objective of the preventive health program's testing of water samples for coliforms was not to publish, but rather to provide information to community health promoters and COCODEs (community development committies, which operate as the local leadership council in each community) about their water quality.
To answer some of your questions: There was a project by a local NGO to provide point-of-use water filters in several of the communities, but the coverage has been incomplete and the utilization infrequent or incorrect; this seems to have been because, like many development projects, the plans were not executed in close collaboration with community members and leaders. They have latrines that seem to be working well--they were constructed when the new community was built, but we don't know very much about these. Again, with the stoves, there have been problems--stoves do not always go where they are most needed (e.g., for families with asthmatic children), the coverage is incomplete (and some duplication in some communities), and stoves are abandoned for a variety of reasons (they break and nobody is there to repair them, or, again, there are barriers that arise from lack of close collaboration between project people and community members). As far as we could tell, mosquitoes were not the big problem in Nueva Providencia--although that community is further south, towards the Piedmont/Bocacosta, there are very few cases of dengue or malaria in the municipality of San Lucas. More of a problem in Nueva Providencia, as far as vector-borne parasitic disease goes, seems to be onchocerciasis, for which the Centro de Salud does biannual ivermectin administration (again, incomplete coverage and barriers related to beliefs about the medicine) but has made no effort to control the black fly in the community.
What relationship will your group and World Neighbors plan to have with the Catholic parish in San Lucas Tolimán? In my experience, it will be important to coordinate or communicate with them to avoid fallout in the communities or duplication of services, especially in the communities where the parish has bought the land and retained titles to domicile and agricultural plots.
Thanks again for your comments, and good luck in your work in San Lucas.
Best Wishes,
Elena Tsinikas
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