On Thursday, April 25th we held
a World Malaria Day Event here in Soroti. It’s been one of the most rewarding
experiences of my Peace Corps service, including my two years in China, not just
my year of Response here in Uganda.
People at the district and Stop Malaria kept thanking me for making it
happen. But all I really did was secure
the grant and keep track of the money; they
were the ones who did all the hard work.
World Malaria Day is in late April, but the
planning started way back in February. I almost didn’t apply for the grant that
would fund the event. To be honest, I
was pretty intimidated by the grant application process. I also assumed that my organization would
start planning and funding the event, but only national level events are
supported by the central office. My
coworkers, Ruth and Fred sat down with me to make the detailed budget. They were on the phone all morning getting
prices for tent rentals, medicines, gloves, you name it. It was then that I realized that how much
people were actually counting on me to come through with this grant. While I
was in Kampala for a meeting, they were getting signatures from district health
officials to make sure we submitted it by the deadline.
We started having planning meetings with
the district and other NGOs in late March.
A month or two before that, I briefly met with a district health
official, who would later become chairman of our committee. When I told him my name, he said it was
difficult to pronounce and asked what my Christian name was. After telling him my last name and that my
middle name was Elizabeth, he said “Elizabeth! That is a good name. I will call
you that!” Despite explaining that no one ever calls me by that name, he
insisted on calling me Elizabeth. I said
“As long as you help me with World Malaria Day, you can call me that.” For months, I’ve been wincing every time he
called me Elizabeth and gave his big-man (I don’t mean fat, “big man” is a term
here in Africa for men in leadership positions) laugh afterwards. But hey, sometimes you have to give up things
up to make something happen, even if it’s your identity.
At the first meeting, the chairman proposed
that we combine World Malaria Day with World TB and World Health Days. I wasn’t crazy about this idea (and neither
were my coworkers), but we went along with it.
Usually, there weren’t many people at the start of each meeting, which
was very discouraging and frustrating to me. But as more people filled in by
the end of each meeting, I had renewed energy.
As part of our grant disbursement, for some
reason I was designated to receive money for three other PCVs. I didn’t know this until the day before. When I checked my bank balance, I had over 25
million shillings, almost $10,000. I
have never had that much money in my bank account (but hopefully will someday
when I get a fabulous job) and it made me very nervous. The next day, I immediately transferred the
money to the other PCVs. It’s probably
the only time in my life I will ever be able to handle millions of any
currency! The next day I was actually able to order the nets and have them
delivered to our Kampala office, which was really exciting to see them arrive
just a few days later here in Soroti.
Two weeks before the event, I was actually
travelling through the southwest of the country. It wasn’t the ideal time to go on leave, but
it was the only time I had an opportunity to travel before my COS (Close of
Service) date. Most of the rentals and services were already reserved and paid
for before I left. But the SMP team was
still working hard while I was gone…Ruth was working on the t-shirts, Benjamin
was buying RDTs (Rapid Diagnostic Tests), and Fred attended the district
meeting.
The day before the event we were all busy
running around; picking up and sorting t-shirts, copying and delivering over 80 letters of
invitation, and buying last-minute supplies. The municipal health educator and
our driver, Ronald spent a long time labeling and stapling those letters. Fred and I were so rushed that we were sorting
and stuffing envelopes out of the back of his van at the district headquarters. But, everything was coming together and I
felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve.
On the big day, we started arriving at the
office around 7:00 am. The sound system and the tents arrived several hours
later than expected. There was a lot of “town running” between the SMP truck
and Fred’s van. The first school group
to arrive was Nakatunya Primary School. They had marched onto the sports ground
looking smart in their navy uniforms and even had a homemade banner. That’s when I started getting emotional. For those of you that don’t know me well, I am
very emotional. As hundreds of primary school
students lined up for the parade, the marching band (comprised of several blind
and visually impaired students led by their friends) warmed up, and finally
seeing the banner with the Stop Malaria Project and Peace Corps logos, I got
tears in my eyes. Thankfully I had on
dark sunglasses! It just overwhelmed me that so many people from different
organizations cared so much about not only being a part of this event, but also
worked so hard to make it happen. Although my contribution was small, I finally
felt like I had contributed something.
The parade was definitely the best part of
the day. Ruth, Badru and I were at the
tail end of it, followed by the SMP truck.
A policeman on a motorcycle was in front to stop traffic. Two others walked with us. As we walked up and down Main and Market
Streets, people were out on their shop sidewalk and home balconies to see what
was going on.
After we got back to the sports ground, the
performances by the school groups started.
Most of them sang songs and recited poems about malaria. Let me tell you, they know their malaria
stuff! Little kids were talking about
plasmodium falciparum, anopheles and fansidar.
I dare you to find an American kid that has such a high medical
vocabulary! In one poem, Uninvited Guest students talked about
how malaria struck unexpectedly when you least expect it, like Al-shabab. Impressive! The TASO (The AIDS Support
Organization) drama group was comprised of several people who were HIV
positive. They performed skits about
malaria and sanitation. Several speeches were also given by local government
officials.
At least 300 people were tested for
malaria. That was just in one tent,
which had health workers from Western Division Health Center. UHMG (Uganda Health Marketing Group) also
performed tests in their tents. We
distributed nets later to those who had tested positive for malaria. As people lined up to receive their nets from
the guest of honor, we noticed about five or six little girls from a dance
troupe with matching costumes were also in line. All of them had malaria. Another woman and I looked at each other in
astonishment.
We also gave 20 nets to Amecet, or Youth with a Mission. This organization is a shelter for young
children (mostly infants and toddlers) whose parents have died or our too ill
to care for them. Many of them are HIV
positive. When Fred and I visited them
earlier in the week, they showed us a wall of photos of all the children that
have passed through there. Several
photos had stars on them, indicating that the child had died. The Amecet
staff came to the event for a few hours with several of the children, even
setting up a crib in one of the tents.
After the ceremony ended, there was a
women’s football match between SODAN (Soroti Development Network) and Uganda
Red Cross. Fred and I watched as Red
Cross eventually won during penalty shots. The district had arranged for the
winning team to receive a goat (for slaughtering and roasting) as a prize. They were so excited about winning that they
practically dragged the goat around the field and eventually picked it up and
carried it around like it was the star player.
The district health official (whom called me Elizabeth) insisted I hand
over the goat to the winning team. So, I
made a little speech about preventing malaria, hypertension (the theme of World
Health Day), and TB. But I also used it
as an opportunity to encourage women and girls to continue playing sports.
It was an 11 hour day and I was exhausted
and sore by the end of the day. But it was worth it. I want to thank all of the organizations
which helped make this day possible: Stop Malaria Project, Soroti District
Health Office, Amecet, The AIDS Support Organization, Charity Women’s
Association, Uganda Red Cross, World Vision, Pilgrim Africa, Uganda Health
Marketing Group, Soroti Development Network, Child Fund, Compassion, Penecostal
Assembly of God, SARUDA (a Soroti-based NGO).
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the months of
planning and hard work from the Stop Malaria Staff: Fred, Benjamin, Ruth, Badru, Helen
Betty, Ronald, Sarah, and Robert. Eyelama!
Thank you!
I have to give a special shout out to
Joanna Groepper, my friend and fellow Soroti PCV, for coming to the event and
helping us out!
