IPC sessions- safe water and safe sex

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending two of our IPC (Interpersonal communication) sessions. Before I go into the details, let me give you a little background on this activity.

One of the ways that we reach our target audience is through the IPC sessions. Each session involves a group of adults or youth but no more than 25 people per group. The groups are led by peer educators (youth) or community health workers (adults). By having a small group of people, the leaders of the group can control the flow of the meeting and assure that each person participates. The objective of the IPCs is to help participants change risky behaviors.

Most of our partner organizations use IPC sessions as one of their main activities for our behavior change project. On this trip, I went with one of our RPOs to do supervision of session.

We arrived towards the end of the IPC with about 14 women and men sitting in a circle and many kids running around, being curious. This health issue for this community was safe water. The people we visited are part of the population that we classify as "most vulnerable." They receive government assistance, including free health insurance, clothing, and food. As a vulnerable population, getting people to change their behavior is a huge and difficult task. For this community, there was no water source near by so they have to travel down the hill (by hill I mean mountain) to get water from the river. They buy jerry cans of water for 20 francs a can which is about 3 cents. Each jerry can holds 20 liters of water.

The community health worker leading the session was talking about one of our products when we arrived: Sur'eau. Sur'eau is one of our 2 water purification products. During this IPC the group discussed the importance of having clean water and how Sur'eau can treat their river water. One bottle of Sur'eau costs 250 francs, about 40 cents. This one bottle treats 50 jerry cans of water or 1000 liters of water. One of the hardest parts of behavior change is convincing the population that changing their behavior is worth it. While we do sell health related products, the most important aspect of our work is improving people's lives. By getting them to change their behavior to improve their health and invest in it (using safe water, mosquito nets, doing family planning, and using condoms to protect against unwanted pregnancies, STIs, and HIV), they can increase their livelihood long after the donors pull out. Because the vulnerable populations receive things for free, they get into the mind set that they should always get handouts. Getting them to invest in healthy behaviors is difficult but once they get into the mindset and invest in their health and future, the process is sustainable and snowballs into healthier lives. 

After the IPC focused on safe water, we attended a youth IPC led by peer educators for a group of about 20 boys and 1 girl all under age 24. This session was more interesting for me (partially because I was there the whole time and it was more dynamic). The session started with a game. We lined up in two lines and stood shoulder to shoulder. While the one line sang a song, the other line passed a potato behind their backs from one person to another. When the peer educator said "stop" everyone stopped and the singing line had to guess who had the potato. I don't think they guessed correctly the entire game. 

Next we went inside and the peer educators introduced the topic- HIV/AIDS. They asked the group how they could tell if someone has HIV by physically looking at them. After they gave a bunch of responses (not quite sure what they said since it was in Kinyarwanda) the peer educators reminded them that just like in the game we played, you can't know if someone is infected just by looking at them. 

They spoke some more and then pulled out condoms and a wooden penis for condom demonstrations. They passed out a brochure with instructions in Kinyarwanda. Instead of the peer educators just doing a demonstration, they asked the group if they knew the steps of correctly using a condom and went around the circle allowing them to explain and demonstrate. Once everyone figured out proper condom use they discussed reasons why people their age do/don't use condoms, if they carry them around with them on a regular basis, and other stigmas related to condom use. 

Even though I could not understand most of what was being said, it was really great to attend these IPCs. It was good to see our peer educators and health workers in action, what challenges they face in the field, and the great work that they are doing on a daily basis. 

Busy busy bee!

What a crazy few weeks I've had! I'm sorry for the lack of blogging lately- I seriously have not had much free time recently. The past two weeks have had major activities for a few of my projects.

I've spent every morning (and a good part of every afternoon) since last Wednesday in a conference room at the Top Tower Hotel meeting with our 10 RPOs (Rwandan Partner Organizations. (If you are counting, you realize I still have 2 more meetings to go!) Each day has been spent helping them create their work plans and budgets for the last year of a USAID funded project BCSM (Behavior Change and Social Marketing) project. As we are all well aware of our flailing economy, funding from many donors has been reduced which is a challenge in creating new budgets. So this year instead of just showing up and starting a work plan and budget from scratch, we gave each RPO a budget amount and told them to draft a plan. Our individual meetings have been to polish the budgets and plans to work within our decreased amount and time period. I have been on an emotional roller coaster over the past two weeks from being ecstatic with organizations whose calculations and plans fit perfectly into what we asked to frustration with those who are sticklers on one last thing that "cannot" be removed. One thing I can say is that I have definitely learned the art of negotiation. I also really had a chance to spend time with the leaders of each RPO individually which made me feel more like part of the team (minus the rapid fire Kinyarwanda which at times makes me feel even more like an outsider). My supervisor was not able to attend these meetings as she hoped so it makes me feel good to show her that I (and another co-worker) can get this done in a timely and accurate manner.

Aside from working with the RPOs, I've been busy working with 12+ (as you see from some of my previous posts). At the same time that I have been working with the RPOs, we are doing refresher training for the mentors in each district. I left Kigali last Friday morning for Huye (in the South) to attend the end of the refresher training and help out at the actual 12+ training event. Despite the cold, rainy weather, the girls had a blast and this is the happiest I have seen the girls at a training to date. They were all singing and dancing and cheering and having a blast. It made my heart smile. On the back end, ie the M&E team, things are starting to get more organized but its still a little chaotic. A database is now in the works which will make a significant improvement in updating forms and being able to calculate data more accurately. We've also reviewed all of the questions asked during pre and post tests to re-evaluate what we are asking. As a pilot program, we are constantly re-evaluating what is working, what we can do to improve the program, and how to make the documentation process simpler for the girls and for ourselves. Despite the challenges, I am really enjoying this project. A new intern is arriving next month whose main job is M&E for this project which should be really good. I'm hoping that I will still have a role in 12+ once she arrives since it is so rewarding for me.

Next week I'll be meeting with the final 2 RPOs, finalizing all of the budgets and work plans, and then doing a refresher training in Musanze (the North of Rwanda-- think Gorillas in the Mist area). This time I should be at the training for the whole time. I'm leading the M&E tools part of the training which I have managed to prepare in between meeting with RPOs, data entry for 12+, editing creative briefs for our website, and assisting with our transition to a local NGO.

Outside of work I went to trivia on Monday and my team came in 2nd place! I've been wanting to get 1st or 2nd place since I arrived in June and finally it happened! Our prize was our drink bill removed. I realized that I should have ordered more than just a bottle of water but free is free!

I've started doing exercise videos after work which give me more energy and are a good release from sitting down all day. I've been mixing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred with Zumba videos and P90X. It's also kept me from going out spending money which is good since I spent a fortune over the last few weeks for my friends'  departure dinners.

Tonight I went out to happy hour at the Marines- this time they opened early and had badminton set up, the pool open, and a Mr. Chips booth (a new restaurant that is the closest to a McDonalds that you can find in Rwanda). The owner makes fresh cheeseburgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs, and even pulled pork, all served with french fries (chips). Apparently they also have fish and chips. After being here for a few months, it is the closest taste to home and a welcomed meal. It was nice to sit and relax, have a burger and a drink, and
start off the weekend. Tomorrow we start the third 12+ training module and then its on to movie night at Heaven. Have a great weekend!