Training

The past two weeks I've been busy helping with with Community Health Worker training at my site. Community Health Workers (or abajyanama b'ubuzima in Kinyarwanda, try saying that ten times fast!) are locally picked volunteers who work in their respective communities promoting health, passing out meds when needed, checking in on HIV+ patients, etc. The list is endless, and since the program began almost 7 years ago there has been a dramatic decline in the number of deaths reported.

This training was specific to the maternal specialists. They are responsible for checking in on pregnant women living in their umudugudu {village} and checking their progress, giving them advice, and encouraging them to visit the Health Center for prenatal care. It was an interesting few weeks and I too learned a lot. Some topics covered: breast feeding (I've seen lots of boobs here, all I'm saying), checking newborns' pulses and breathing for irregularities, weighing said newborns, and of course, the always important how to properly fill out le fiche {the mother's medical record}. Though the training was certainly interesting, it was also pretty boring most of the time, I was crammed into a tiny wooden bench along with a bunch of ladies, and the classroom we were using (the students are on summer break too) was so hot I could barely breathe. Not sure how any learning goes on there in the afternoon! The experience was good, but I'm ready to get back to work at the Health Center next week.

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Liliose, my counterpart, teaching. She is the head of the community health workers.

Lots of babies at the training.

Role playing, some of these went on for over an hour! I think Rwanda needs a community theatre.

He never stopped smiling, he may have been the only one happy to be there!

Packed in like sardines!

At the end of the week we take the workers into the community to put them to the test!