September 19th, 2015 by Rachel | Tags: Disability, Malaria, Peace Corps | No Comments »
Last week, I visited four more homes for malaria evaluation. I visited a home of a woman who became disabled from crashing into a plank which cut her leg severely. Chantel, a member of Northwest Association of Women with Disabilities, never had it fixed properly and so, she struggles to walk and is often in pain. While she had a mosquito yet, it was tied in a knot. When we see it tied in a knot, it often means that they do not untie the knot and bring the net down to sleep under. So, this can mean that they don’t really sleep under the net and therefore, they are not protected from mosquito bites. I asked if she unties the knot, she claimed “yes” but I will never know the truth.
If I had to name one participant from all the workshops who would most likely sleep under a mosquito net, I would say it’s the President of Helping Each Other, Richard, who allowed me to host the very first malaria workshop last April. At the workshop, he showed genuine interest in preventing malaria as he listened carefully and engaged in discussions and said that he sleeps under a mosquito net. When I came to his home, as expected, he did have a mosquito net hanging down which means that he does sleep under a mosquito net. His home was also clean.
After visiting Richard, I met Fanny, a woman with mobility disability who is a member of Northwest Association of Women with Disabilities. She lives in a very tiny studio where she does cooking and sleeping in one room. She is trying to find a job. She had a mosquito net that was hung up and the sides were tucked in at the top but it was not knotted. This means that she may sometimes sleep with the net down.
I then visited a home of a gentleman named Gregory who is a member of Community Resource Centre for the Disabled and the Disadvantaged. He became disabled from an illness and uses crutches to help him walk. He did not have a mosquito net but officials from a health center did visit his home recently and say that they will bring mosquito nets for him, his wife and children. I noticed that his windows did not have screens but he had shutters. I asked him if he closes the shutters at night and he said yes.
I hope to visit at least two more homes next week and then, I will revisit all homes in December to see if those who didn’t have mosquito nets have received them from health centers and made any new behavior changes.
