©InfoNytasue community doesn’t have a traditional ‘palava hut’ so its people gather under the shade of a mango tree when they want to discuss community matters, such as the work the Liberia Red Cross has been doing with them over the past three years.
Sumo Dad is a farmer with five children. He says: “The problem in our community was that there was no education around health. So children would defecate around the village and nobody cleared it away. Even the water we used to drink was a problem.
“With the Red Cross coming, we now have safe drinking water. This along with the construction of latrines and health messages has helped us address the issue of faeces around the village. I am very impressed with all the changes.”
Clean-up campaign
Along with constructing wells and latrines, one of the key aspects of the community-based health programme is changing behaviour, to bring about better health practices. Red Cross health and hygiene trainers work with volunteers in the community training them in health standards so that they can then pass on the information to others in the community.
“For me the best thing has been the health education and learning how to take care of our own bodies,” Sumo explains. “It makes so much difference washing your hands after the toilet and before eating. Also learning about keeping the environment around the well clean, and how to prevent disease, when you go to draw water from the hand-pump you must take off your shoes before entering that area.
“Now we organise ourselves to do a clean-up campaign a couple of times a month. Our community is quite spread out and the town crier goes around announcing a general cleaning day and we all work together.”
No more diarrhoea
Sumo continues: “I’m not a medical doctor but I can see that the children are physically better as they don’t get so much runny tummy.
“My dream for our community is to have a school for the children. The reason we need a school is that the children are risking their lives by walking on the roads to get to school because the traffic is so dangerous.
“We also need a palava hut, somewhere we can all gather and sit comfortably to discuss our business and settle disputes or meet guests, instead of having to sit on the floor under the trees."
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