©Info“Last year, this was a community uneducated in hygiene matters,” says Daniel Small. “Many people don’t have a toilet and as there were no communal latrines they would defecate around the village. Also people didn’t know to wash their hands. These conditions were not good for the community.”
Daniel is married, with four children, and speaks passionately about the difference the Liberia Red Cross programme has made to people’s health in Franjoe community. “Cholera, diarrhoea and malaria were common problems and people didn’t know where they came from. In my own home, the children used to sleep without a mosquito net and they caught malaria. Since using the nets we have some control with these problems. Another organisation came and distributed the nets, but the Red Cross explained the importance of using them.
“The Red Cross has been developing committees in our community so we can start addressing our own health needs. At the beginning, we didn’t know what the Red Cross was aiming at with their assistance.
©Info"But after some time we got to see the importance of the work and now people are very motivated. We have built latrines where before people just used bushes. We’ve also received hygiene items, such as buckets, soap and toothpaste.”
Working together
During the war, people were used to getting handouts and group development is a new concept to Franjoe community. People are expected to work together as a team, providing the labour for projects and contributing local materials such as wood and sand.
Daniel says: “This system where community members are expected to provide the labour means turning up during work time to labour on the well, for example, but by doing this you’re not in a position to put food on the table. This caused some delays in the project, as people couldn’t always turn up.
©Info“We discussed it with the Red Cross and asked if they could provide food for the people providing the labour but there was no budget for food in this programme. We suggested that future projects should take this into consideration. We also need to maintain the facilities and the committees need to be trained to do this.”
Fayiah Tamba, Liberia Red Cross field officer, says: “One of the challenges is exiting a community, as people always want more help. We are tackling this issue by training members of the community to maintain the wells and latrines, and we give them repair kits. We also encourage them to establish a cash box system, whereby everyone contributes to a community fund, so that if something breaks and they need to replace it they have the money for the spare parts.”
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