Training day 3

We had a busy final day of training with lots of information to share and celebrations to be had. 

We began the day by meeting three students who had passed their 7th grade exams which allowed them to go on to secondary school. These kids had worked very hard.  Unfortunately they all three had lost both their parents to AIDS. They would not be able to afford the fees to go to secondary school.  Fortunately HealthEd Connect has a fund that helps orphans and vulnerable children who do well in our school go on to secondary school.  The students were so excited to hear this.  They have dreams of being lawyers, doctors, and accountants.  Being orphaned has left them with little help from their families. Now they can continue to pursue their dreams. 

The 3rd day of training began with the groups identifying health care professionals in their community with whom they could share the information they learned. The hope is that they can partner with the professionals in the clinics in educating the people.  We did a few role plays to bring the point home. 

The first was with Sherri demonstrating what not to do. I played the role of the doctor in the community and there was much laughter at the two of us as actors. I then enlisted two actors from the crowd to share the info with me who again played the doctor.   I was very impressed with how much they learned. Given the noise of multiple translations and discussions at each table I wasn't sure how much was learned. Clearly the message came across. 

The next session allowed the groups to share what they do in each of their communities. This gave each group a chance to learn about all the possibile activities that the health workers could engage in. 

The first group was from the Congo. These women are traditional birth attendants who work tirelessly to deliver babies in their villages.  Here's a couple of them demonstrating a birth with lots of laughter by all. 

The Malawian women weigh babies and teach the mothers about health issues. Here they are trying to teach family planning to a pregnant woman with a baby on her back and another in her arms. It's nice to see that all health care workers can laugh about the work they do. 

The next group from Zambia demonstrated a home visit on a woman dying from AIDS. I'll blog more about this in another entry. 

This Zambian group demonstrated the child support specialist group that helps orphans work through their grief that comes from losing both parents. 

The final group was from Zamtan where we have just started our third school building. The health workers demonstrated digging the foundation for the school.  To help with the costs of the school 53 volunteers took a day to dig the foundation. Education and health are so interwoven that all of the health workers were there to help dig the foundation. 

To end our training day, each person received an official certificate indicating that they passed. It was a true celebration with singing and dancing. 

We even had time to celebrate Jac's birthday. That's quite the knife he's holding!

The training is over. It was three long days but I'm impressed with how much was learned by women who have had limited formal education.  I probably learned just as much. I hope this information will be helpful as they return to their communities.