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July 16, 2007

"Buwah, mhm bisieh"

The above means "Good day, thanks" and that is what greeted us as we coasted into Sahn Malen. In between screams of "Pu muin"- from kids- meaning "white man." We had two days before the Chief officially welcomed us but we still had work to do. I had prepared a pre-project questionnaire that was taken to every household in the village. We split into 3 groups and took the 4 pages questionnaire with us with the aim of meeting and knowing the people and at the same time recording vital information related to ITN use. We also used this questionnaire to confirm population of the town.

In Sahn, we also organized a malaria football gala. We made about six teams and separated them in two groups. Jacob and myself joined two of the teams. By the end of the first day, everyone, absolutely every kid knew the name of Jacob because he was a fantastic player. Here was a case where a sport was not only used to break barriers between nations; it was also used to campaign against malaria. Before every game, Mathias and myself would address the large crowd of people watching the game and the players about our project and the importance of sleeping under nets in the campaign against malaria. We also stressed the need to engage into environmental campaigns across the community.

After two days, we had visited every home. My three Danish colleagues were all allocated "brothers" who both spoke English and Mende and I was about my own way. I was not surprised to see that they all had picked up one or two sentences of Mende from their close interactions with the community. Getting in touch with the world and our friend who would join us again from Denmark- Gustav Gordon- proved difficult. There was only one Phone Company that had network in the village, Celtel, and at only specific locations.

Hopanda Lebbie, 12 years old, was the newest member of GMin and he was already active. He joined us on the trip to Sahn to carry out the project and he offered vital assistance in ideas and motivation until the unfortunate thing happened. He was here to fight against malaria far away from the care of his parents with high fever and a temperature of 40.5ºC- 3.5º above normal. Little did he know that he had a personal battle with the illness because he got sick with malaria. We took him to the health center but his motivation to be a part of the project never waned. He still went to all the football games, participated in meetings and shared his infectious spirit of friendship with all of us.