Summary of project status and achievements:
Because the Traveling Health Workshop saw such low numbers in October, Byamungu began one-day informational health seminars around the community in places where people tended to congregate. Such places included outside of the clinic, near the departure centre, and the market and saw a lot of interest. However, due to the transient nature of the locations, he found that although many people would stay for a full session, many others would only stop to listen for a few minutes as they were on their way to and from one destination to another.
Similar to the CDRC, the shortened program increased attendance and retention in the joint youth program, and enjoyed assistance from Kyapi Mpapo, who had initially left FORGE to pursue a university degree at the University of Lubumbashi in October, recommenced his work with the organization when circumstances kept him in Kala.
Youth Group teacher Odette repatriated to Pweto at the end of the month.
Indicators and Statistics:
See November spreadsheet.
Future goals:
N/A
Substantial problems or issues:
None.
Wishes or requests:
None.
By Sara WasserteilSummary of project status and achievements:
In contrast to preceding months, FORGE health classes received minimal interest from the Kala community, reflected in enrollment, attendance and completion rates. Although recruitment was higher than normal, feedback from the community indicated two primary reasons for the drop in interest in the classes, namely that a) after teaching health in Kala for many years, many of the people who were interested in health had already participated in a FORGE health class, and b) after community sensitization took place informing section leaders and participants who took part in Fazili's class in which child delivery was taught, there was still confusion about FORGE health classes. This seemed to be two-fold, in that some people were told that they should discard their certificates because they were useless (misinterpreted from the message that the certificates did not certify the holder to administer any sort of medical treatment or procedures), while others were had heard rumors that FORGE taught information and then told people not to use the information they were given (especially since the topics that were not supposed to be taught seem to be the ones people were most interested in and they feel are the most important). Sara and Byamungu continued a rigorous sensitization campaign trying to alleviate any fears or concerns regarding health classes, occasionally including visits to participants' homes in order to clear up any confusion. People who had discarded their certificates were also given replacements.
The youth group program experienced identical problems to the primary school program described in the CDRC report, as it was part of the same program.
Because the Traveling Health Workshop saw such low numbers, it was decided that instead of carrying out a final session, Byamungu would carry out one-day informational health seminars around the community in places where people tended to congregate.
Indicators and Statistics:
See October spreadsheet.
Future goals:
For the youth group retention to improve and for Byamungu to teach 3-4 seminars per week.
Substantial problems or issues:
Low interest and high numbers of dropouts.
Wishes or requests:
None.
By Sara WasserteilSummary of project status and achievements:
As mentioned in the section above, the Health Centre and CDRC came together to design a joint Youth Group course for students in grades five and six, which began mid-month once the ongoing Youth Group intake finished. The Traveling Workshop enjoyed a visiting nurse to its session which received a positive response. Unfortunately, despite having 25 at the beginning of the course, it experienced an abnormally high level of dropouts, with those choosing to discontinue the class citing repatriation and repatriation preparations.
The Health and Body combination course saw both morning and afternoon intakes finish with an impressive 117 certificates awarded, and one other ongoing Health and Body 2 course finish as well. Despite having very favorable reviews from the Health and Body combination course students, and receiving high attendance and retention levels compared to many other FORGE courses, on September 29th, it was brought to management's attention that the teacher, Fazili, had been teaching instructions on how to practice child delivery along with other treatment and pharmacological advice outside of the approved FORGE curriculum. When discussed with Fazili, he denied teaching anything medical in nature and explicitly stated that there was nothing in his course that could be interpreted as instructions for child delivery. Unfortunately, after further investigation and looking through the notes of various students who took the course, Sara and coordinator Byamungu found that he had been teaching these topics in explicit detail. When confronted about the evidence, Fazili finally admitted that upon request, he had taught the aforementioned subjects contrary to his earlier statement. Although he was set to repatriate that week anyway, his contract was terminated with immediate effect with Byamungu taking over his course, and an incident report was submitted to Oakland. In addition, Sara wrote a letter to the HOSO, Protection Officer, and Project Manager of AAH explaining the incident and outlining the steps FORGE was taking to ensure the health and safety of the Kala community, clarifying that FORGE Health Centre staff clearly knows that they should never, under any circumstance, provide medical advice, treatment, or procedural instructions, and that all such inquiries should be referred to AAH. She also put together a statement of understanding for those who participated in the class to sign, clarifying the approved topics for the course, reemphasizing the intent of FORGE health classes versus the role of AAH as the medical authority in Kala, and explaining that their certificates reflected knowledge of those topics, and did not certify them to practice medical treatment or procedures in any capacity. Both documents are attached.
Lastly, a new Health and Body course began at the end of the month with fewer than 10 students, despite being instructed not to begin a class with less than that number. (Sara was in Lubumbashi when it began.) Additionally, when Byamungu began recruitment for his October intake for the Traveling Workshop, he expressed great difficulty in finding even 1/3 as many students as previous intakes, due to a) a smaller camp population, b) people busy with farming and repatriation to attend class, and c) that after two years of teaching health classes in Kala, most people had already participated in one of the classes. Although plans were made to step up recruitment efforts in October, numbers are projected to be substantially lower for the remaining time FORGE operates in Kala.
Indicators and Statistics:
See September spreadsheet.
Future goals:
To increase numbers of students reached by Youth Group.
Substantial problems or issues:
None.
Wishes or requests:
To assist with staffing changes since the Health Centre lost two staff during September.
By Sara WasserteilSummary of project status and achievements:
With Byamungu , the Health Centre Coordinator, on leave for most of the month, Kyapi took over the Traveling Workshop and demonstrated a tremendous amount of effort initiative throughout August. After requesting paper and pencils to incorporate health-related drawing in his classes, Kyapi's Youth Group class saw an increase in numbers as children drew different parts of the body and scenes of sanitary environments they learned about. On August 5th, Health and Body instructor Fazili met with Sara and Nick regarding a proposed traditional health curriculum he wanted to incorporate into the Health and Body classes. Upon hearing the content of the material, Fazili was told that because FORGE was not a health organization, it could not provide students with medical advice or pharmacological information. Because Fazili teaches a class on traditional medicine on his own time, Sara also clarified that he could not promote that course in the FORGE classes that he taught, and that any referrals to medical treatment had to be directed towards AAH/the Kala Health Clinic.
As August also saw the first revised Health and Body 2 class come through, Sara noticed that the intake was finishing with only five students. With a new intake set to begin the third week of August, she encouraged Fazili to recruit at least two dozen students. Imploring Kyapi to advertise the class in the Traveling Workshop, she was stunned to learn that 135 students had signed up for health classes in less than one week. However, rather than just wanting to learn the Health and Body 2 material, those recruited were interested in an accelerated course including topics from both Health and Body 1 and 2 classes, and instruction on professional letter writing. To accommodate the high level of interest, the group was split in two and a five week class was designed to include four weeks of health instruction taught by Fazili, and one week of professional letter writing to be taught by Douglas. Ultimately, the course ended up meeting five times per week rather than the three that was planned, and at the end of the month Fazili anticipated it would end in time for those leaving on the September 12th convoy to complete the course.
Sara spoke with Mr. Matende, the Education and HIV/AIDS Coordinator for World Vision about borrowing videos on HIV/AIDS, per Byamungu's request. He said FORGE was free to use any videos we wanted, and he was supposed to leave her a note granting her permission, but the note was never written. She followed up with him at the end of the month and was promised the videos the next time they met in Kala.
Indicators and Statistics:
See August spreadsheet.
Future goals:
To increase recruitment and have nurses from AAH guest lecture on family planning and be available to answer questions FORGE health staff are not equipped to answer.
Substantial problems or issues:
None.
Wishes or requests:
The Health Centre would still like to begin showing videos on STIs to attract more students. They would also like to incorporate activities with balls for Youth Group as a way to promote exercise and attract more youth. Sara is working on both and hoping to get the requested items to the Health Centre in September.
By Sara WasserteilSummary of project status and achievements:
Overall, Health Centre classes went well throughout the month of July. With adults busy with repatriation preparation, the Health Centre began targeting youth for its classes and had good attendance in Health and Body, although Youth Group numbers dropped. Decreased attendance in Youth Group was attributed to the fact that it used to recruit in schools, and schools were on break. In the July 31st staff meeting, one Youth Group teacher mentioned that incorporating drawing in the class had attracted children, so it will receive pencils and paper to add health-related art to the class for the upcoming intake.
As mentioned in the June report, the Health and Body classes merged from three to two, with the old Health and Body 3 teacher cut with the phase-out and the current Health and Body 1 and 2 teacher taking the remaining two. To enable the Health and Body 3 class to finish its intake, the class ran through the first half of July with the teacher paid half a month's salary out of the contingency budget. The new Health and Body 2 class will be a combination of the old Health and Body 2 and 3 material.
Lastly, at the end of the month, it came to Sara's attention that two of the Health Centre teachers were only working nine hours instead of the 18 stipulated in their contracts (one being the teacher cut during the phaseout). In discussions with Nick and Stephanie, it was decided that because they were not missing classes or neglecting any of their responsibilities, that no disciplinary action would be taken since it was not their fault that their hours were inflated. Hours and responsibilities were adjusted to make sure that the time worked matched their salaries for the future, and in the July 31st all-staff meeting, Sara clarified FORGE's policies and reminded FORGE employees that if they did not understand their contracts or noticed that their hours or duties differed from what was written, it was their responsibility to come to the PM to address the issue.
Indicators and Statistics:
See July spreadsheet.
Future goals:
The Health Centre would like to begin showing a video on STIs to attract more students. They did this with World Vision in 2007 and say that it was very successful.
Substantial problems or issues:
Attendance.
Wishes or requests:
Videos and CDs with information on STIs. Also, sports balls to help attract children to Youth Group classes.
By Sara WasserteilSummary of project status and achievements:
All health centre classes continued well in June. The committee elected to make some staffing changes in the health centre, including the reduction of the youth group teachers’ hours to ten each and the elimination of one health and body teacher. As a result of these changes, the remaining health and body teacher and coordinator have decided to modify the class structure slightly. There will now be only two levels of health and body class, but because many topics from level two were review of material from level one, the new level two will be more similar to the old level three. The teacher and coordinator are working to modify the curricula for these classes. It was discovered that the current intake of level three will not end until mid-July, but the teacher was budgeted to finish his position at the end of June. So as not to interrupt the class, money from the contingency budget will be used to pay him a half salary for this time period. Traveling health workshops will remain as normal, and the coordinator will assist with youth group since the teacher’s hours have been reduced.
Indicators and Statistics:
See June spreadsheet.
Future goals:
None.
Substantial problems or issues:
Students were very unhappy with a new version of Health and Body class certificates that inadvertently omitted a list of the topics covered during the class. When the students brought this concern to the Coordinator Byamungu, rather than bring the omission to the attention of the Project Manager, he told the students he would provide them with a forged copy of the old certificates if they paid him a bribe. The students were very upset, and visited the Project Manager Assistant at home to report the coordinator’s inappropriate request. When confronted by the Project Manager, the coordinator immediately admitted to his actions and apologized for his wrongdoing. Since the coordinator was honest and remorseful, is otherwise an excellent employee, and did not actually create any forged certificates, the Project Manager decided not to terminate his contract. Instead, he was given a written warning and made to personally apologize to each affected student, explaining that his actions were inappropriate and that FORGE does not support corruption or bribery of any kind. The students were satisfied with this action. New certificates that included a list of topics were printed.
Wishes or requests:
No.
By Stephanie Puccetti
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