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Experiences in Saboba.... |
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Although it was not without challenges, there were many successes and highlights and I am happy to have had the opportunity to participate in and contribute to another Health-Aid initiative. I focused primarily on HIV/AIDS education, giving talks and demonstrating condom use in villages and schools. It was extremely rewarding as we were always warmly received and people were very receptive to the HIV/AIDS message being conveyed. Drawing on my experiences from Action V, I tried to improve the educational talks and make them as interactive as possible. Most of the time, they were lively and dynamic and the villagers seemed very eager to learn and participate. The progress I saw among many of the villagers was impressive. The same people who, when asked the first time around how they would react to an HIV positive person in their community responded that they would “chase them out of the village”, six months later were answering the same question with “we must feed them good food and take care of them so that they remain healthy as long as possible.” This made me very happy since it was proof that the message was making an impact. Local community health nurses are also partly responsible for this success since they deliver education in addition to health care. Not surprisingly, I have many great memories and have made many lasting friendships as a result of Action VI. I would like to thank David Biyo, Kingsley Kayan, the Italian volunteers and the Ghanaian medical students for their hard work and dedication and for helping to make Action VI an experience I will never forget. Naomi Resnick, September 2004 |
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It
was wonderful returning to Saboba for a second time. Seeing all the
familiar faces and places brought back fond memories from Action V.
Many of the difficulties present the first time had disappeared as I
was now much more familiar and comfortable with Ghanaian culture in
general and Konkomba culture in particular. The local staff introduced
the team to important people and places of Saboba which made me feel
at home. It also helped that I was better acquainted with the Italian
accent and was better able to adjust my spoken English accordingly.
All these things made Action VI much easier in many respects.