Health
Blog Post: Posted September 2, 2010, 2:17 am by Tara Noronha
Truly, skills for employment and skills for life
Country: Uganda
A few weeks ago, I was honored to serve as the Chief Judge at an interschool debate on HIV/AIDS prevention. Under a perfect blue Ugandan sky, youth from two neighboring schools prepared to deliver remarks on the importance of abstinence, safe sex, delayed marriage and healthy life choices.
A young woman delivers her part of the debate. Photo: Tara Noronha/Mercy Corps
I expected some of the young debaters — Peer Educators in Mercy Corps’ Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP) — to display at least some signs of anxiety and nervousness over the event. These youth were orating not only before a panel of judges, but also an audience comprised of more than 150 peers and key members of the community. Even though the Peer Educators had organised the event as part of YEP’s life skills programme, I anticipated seeing some beads of sweat, perhaps a little stuttering and maybe even a few tears. After all, public speaking terrifies most adults I know!
However, as the debate began, my predictions were quickly shattered. One by one, the young participants — all neatly dressed in crisp uniforms for the occasion — shared articulate, passionate messages about the effects of HIV/AIDS in their community. With loud, clear voices, they not only delivered powerful remarks, but also adjured their peers to share the information with their families. Members from the two debate teams also replied to complicated rebuttals with calm, thoughtful responses.
I was ineffably impressed by the confidence and aplomb of these youth. And I wasn’t the only one. With wide-eyes, their classmates keenly observed the dialogue in silence and in complete admiration. In addition to creating social awareness, these Peer Educators were empowering their fellow students, by displaying leadership skills and by serving as responsible, positive role models. Admittedly, I had a very difficult time selecting a “winning” team.
Youth deliver a radio broadcast to one million listeners on Pader's Luo FM. Photo: Tara Noronha/Mercy Corps
Just yesterday, I observed ten YEP Peer Educators from Wimunu Pecek school deliver a live radio broadcast on the popular Luo FM, summarizing messages from the earlier debate. Once again, I was astounded by the poise, confidence and thoughtful leadership displayed by the youth. After rigorous research and preparation, the students each gave eloquent, structured remarks on the topic, fully aware that their voices and messages were reaching more than one million listeners in eight Ugandan districts, as well as parts of southern Sudan.
So why are these activities, these life skills, so important for Ugandan youth in their transition to adulthood and in their quest for economic engagement? After all, YEP strives to enhance the employability of youth.
Over the past two months, I have been studying the factors preventing youth from gaining employment in northern Uganda. During a recent focus group discussion, a young woman named Concy shared that she had participated in a vocational training course, with the hope that the skills would provide her with both job security and a steady income.
“I completed an intensive, nine-month course in tailoring,” she told me in an exasperated voice. “But I have never been able to use the skill because I do not have money to buy a sewing machine.” Concy added that she has since forgotten the technical knowledge learned through the training. While pacifying her infant on her lap, she told me that she is still seeking work.
I have listened to many similar stories of frustration.
One male youth told me that a non-governmental organisation sponsored him to spend an entire year learning Information Technology skills; however, since graduating, he has been unable to find employment due to lack of demand for the skill in his community. (Pader Town, the capital of this district, just received electricity a few months ago.)
What I have learned through my conversations with youth — as well as local employers and consumers — is that a solid education and a mastered technical skill are certainly helpful in a securing a job or running a business; however, many other factors and resources contribute to preparing youth for business success. The lack or presence of basic life skills, such as effective communication and the ability to make critical decisions, have a profound and often overlooked impact on the “employability” of youth.
Okidi and Akanyo, Peer Educators from Wimunu Pecek School. Photo: Tara Noronha/Mercy Corps
Along with support for income generating activities, an integral part of YEP is training in life skills, or soft skills. Together, these two components holistically prepare youth for becoming successful entrepreneurs and employees. In addition to effective communication and problem-solving skills, YEP’s life skills activities encourage leadership techniques, punctuality, conflict negotiation, strong work ethics and proper hygiene, topics which differ from hard business skills and are often not fully addressed in schools.
These skills are truly life skills, as they are always marketable and transferable, even in a stagnant labour market. These personal and interpersonal skills are particularly important for youth who were former child soldiers during Uganda’s civil war and for those who spent prolonged periods in camps as internally displaced persons (IDPs). Life skills training allows youth to gain confidence and skills which will help them throughout their careers: in interviews, in managing customers and with making difficult decisions.
In Uganda, many young people feel that they are not respected or appreciated by adult figures and employers. YEP’s life skills programme encourages youth to gain confidence in their workforce capabilities and in their role in society. Through life skills activities such as the debate and radio broadcast, youth are able gain the respect of their elders and their community by demonstrating that they are capable, confident and prepared for responsible economic engagement.
Blog Post: Posted August 24, 2010, 5:20 am by Pete O'Farrell
Homemade signs and help
Country: Pakistan
This medical tent, operated by Mercy Corps' emergency team here in Sindh Province, is serving about 150 flood-displaced women every day. Photo: Pete O'Farrell/Mercy Corps
For the most part, it looked like all the other tents in this growing camp for internally-displaced persons (IDPs), currently populated by more than 3,000 people who've been driven from their homes by Pakistan's floods. The non-descript white canvas triangular tent was no more than eight feet by 10 feet, with some basic red carpets on the bottom keeping the dust at bay. The only thing that separated this tent from the hundreds of others was a small homemade sign saying, “Mobile Medical Unit.”
In the hundred-plus degree heat, a Mercy Corps team has set up mobile medical tents for women inside this burgeoning camp in Sindh Province. Our team works for days before moving to another camp to provide medical aid. The doctors — working with donated medicines — treat all different types of illnesses such as rashes, water-borne diseases, eye infections from the dust and symptoms of dehydration from the intense heat. Twenty-five women sat in the waiting room, which was no more than a tent with some basic floor mats to keep people out of the intense sunlight. Before the day is over, more than 150 women will be treated.
On the other side of the tent, another Mercy Corps colleague was leading 50 women in a two-hour hygiene lesson. These classes teach women basic hygiene for their new living conditions where the dust, heat, shared water sources, latrines and new surroundings present challenges very different from their home villages. At the conclusion of the course, the women received a hygiene kit with soap, bandages, cloths and other essentials.
The floods in Pakistan are the worst in well over 100 years. The UN says that more than 20 million people have been affected and at least four million are homeless and displaced. Thousands of camps just like these have been set up in cities and the countryside across Pakistan.
Mercy Corps has worked in Pakistan since 1986 and responded to previous disasters such as the 2005 earthquake and 2009 Swat Valley displacement crisis. The experience gained from those previous crises has allowed our teams to efficiently and effectively respond to the immediate needs of the people.
I arrived in Pakistan just two days ago from Portland to lend any and all assistance to our teams on the ground, and I am in awe of all they have done in such a short time.
Blog Post: Posted August 20, 2010, 12:45 pm by Lila Wade
Demystifying our work in North Korea
Country: North Korea
In North Korea, Mercy Corps programmes focus on alleviating hunger by expanding agricultural production. We also invite North Korean officials to the U.S. as part of building a humanitarian bridge between our country and theirs.
I recently talked about our work in North Korea (also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) including what it's like to host North Korean officials here in the U.S. with David Austin, a programme officer responsible for managing Mercy Corps programmes in North Korea.
Q: First, can you give us a little history? When and how did Mercy Corps begin working in North Korea?
David Austin: Well, Mercy Corps has had programmes in the DPRK for about 15 years. Our work began in 1996 when a North Korean diplomat to the UN began reaching out to aid agencies requesting help with agricultural production as there was a famine occurring in the country. One of the calls he made was to the late Ells Culver, who co-founded Mercy Corps. His response: "Sure! Let’s get started."
Q: What kind of programmes do we have there?
A large portion of our work remains centered on agriculture — improving growing techniques and encouraging the bio-diversity of crops. In 2000, Mercy Corps supplied 35,000 apple cuttings to orchards in Qwail County to boost production, which began an ongoing project revolving around apple production.
Since that first shipment, we have sent an additional 200,000 apple rootstock which have been propogated into more than 900,000 apple trees. Our hope for the future is that Mercy Corps can help communities begin making value-added products like applesauce, apple cider or dried fruit bars.
We have also helped on smaller crop projects on an annual basis, such as grass seed, potatoes, poplar trees and fish farms.
When there have been extraordinary circumstances, Mercy Corps has helped in times of crisis, such as providing medicines during the floods of 2007, food crises in 2008-2009 and, most recently, Mercy Corps was part of a USAID-funded initiative to bring medical supplies and electricity to hospitals in North Korea.
Q: What did this hospital initiative entail?
Mercy Corps purchased and installed five generators in five different hospitals in South Hwangae provinces with the help of volunteer electricians from here in Oregon. We then returned to monitor how the new generators were put to use and to assess the hospitals’ material needs. Finding the hospitals short on many basic supplies, Mercy Corps arranged for the delivery of several ultrasound machines, X-ray units, power conditioners and other needed supplies, such as operating beds and operating lights. I was able to visit the hospitals myself right after these supplies were delivered along with Nancy Lindborg, Mercy Corps' president.
Q: But there's a diplomatic element to our programmes as well, right?
Yes, you might say that we deliver more than just direct assistance. Through our aid work, Mercy Corps plays a unique role as a relational bridge between people in the United States and people in the DPRK. The nature of our work helps create these relationships, because it creates common ground. For instance, most of our work centers on agriculture. Agriculture is a science, which is, by nature, apolitical. Cooperation on these non-controversial fronts creates a space for engagement that will one day, we hope, open a window for the political opportunity.
Q: Tell me more about what you mean by a "relational bridge."
The relationship that Mercy Corps has built has been an incredible asset. By building trust, we have been provided with opportunities to take leadership in times of crisis, such as the famine in 1997 and most recently in 2008 and 2009. Normally, aid organisations don’t operate in the country, but because of our relationship with officials there, Mercy Corps and a few other non-governmental organisation (NGOs) were given unprecedented access. We were able to feed 890,000 people for eight months and crisscross the country visiting with the people who received the aid. We had open access to the areas we served, and in many cases we were
the first encounter North Koreans ever had with an American.
Q: But constructing a bridge to such an insular country can't be easy.
That's true. Few North Koreans are permitted to leave the country, but we have had the unique opportunity of inviting members of the Korean American Private Exchange Society, part of the government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to visit the U.S. These visits have been enriching experiences. They have given us the privilege of facilitating dialogue between state and local officials. Through these trips, we are able to extend the hospitality of our organisation, present new ideas about our vision for the future and show that there are many similarities between our country and theirs.
Q: What do North Korean officials do when they visit?
They visit our city, meet civic, political, business and academic leaders whose work or interests might inspire or assist the North Koreans. Over the course of their visit, we may take them to visit the World Forestry Centre, Oregon State University, and a national forest, the kinds of places where they can meet with experts on deforestation and agricultural productivity — two issues that the DPRK must address to reduce poverty.
We aim to build relationships and to facilitate the exchange of information. Our hope is that when these officials leave they will have experienced a deeper connection to our organisation, our donors, our city and the vision we have. Hopefully, this helps them understand the many opportunities there are to expand our work into new areas in their country through a deeper partnership.
Q: What's the hoped-for result of these partnerships?
Our hope is that the years and resources we spend in North Korea will relieve suffering today, and lay the groundwork for deeper relationships in the future. It makes a difference that we are a U.S.-based organisation because we invariably represent our country when we are there. Although we are not on a political mission, we are seen as Americans. Thus, our programmes and history in the country serve as a reminder of what is good in our country.
I have heard many survivors of World War II break down in tears of gratitude for the food and aid they received from the United States after the war was over. By providing aid in North Korea, who knows what kind of friends we’re creating for the future? But I'm sure that these relationships will be of lasting value.
Blog Post: Posted July 22, 2010, 7:34 pm by Sandra Castañed...
Chile's first Comfort for Kids programs hold closing ceremony
Country: Chile
Children and family gather for the closing ceremony of the first group of Comfort for Kids programmes in Penco. Photo: courtesy of EPES
On a chilly winter day in the community of Penco, we held the closing ceremony for the Comfort for Kids programme, implemented by the Educacion Popular en Salud (or EPES) Foundation with the support of Mercy Corps. Approximately 150 of the 200 children that participated in the programme in this community (there are more than 1,000 children participating in the entire programme) showed up for the celebration accompanied, for the most part, by a significant adult — mother, father, grandfather, grandmother or aunt.
Local authorities in attendance included representatives from the mayor´s office, the Talcahuano Health Service and The Lirquén Hospital Local Development Council, as well as a Senator and Council Representative of the community. The ceremony was covered by journalists from the local government as well as the Talcahuano Health Service.
During the ceremony, the coordinator of the Penco Department of Health and the community Senator offered a few words, and two children shared their experience of participating in the Comfort for Kids workshops.
Posters made by the children that read "After the storm comes the calm, after the rain comes the rainbow." Photo: courtesy of EPES
The Penco school hall was brightened with coloured balloons representing each group of children from the programme — in total, eight groups corresponding to the sectors of Nueva La Greda, Lomas del Conquistador, La Fech, La Ernita, Penco School, Jorge Montt School and Baquedano. Some groups came prepared with banners, thanking EPES for their support, others with drawings alluding to the hope for reconstruction after the disaster.
Each group was represented by one or two children who received, on behalf of the whole group, the diplomas made by EPES and handed out by the Senator and Council Representative and Department of Health. EPES also gave a certificate to and acknowledged the work done by the 13 facilitators who conducted the workshops, who after being voluntarily trained had the time and motivation to work in their communities with the children affected by the earthquake and tsunami. At this time a special atmosphere was created, as each facilitator was named, the children chanted the names of their “tias” or “aunts” as they were affectionately called.
Finally, the ceremony ended with a small celebration where all the children — together with their families and invited guests — enjoyed a delicious cake, juice and soft drinks.
Blog Post: Posted June 3, 2010, 12:01 am by Karen Anderson
"Now I know what to do if it happens again"
Country: Chile
It’s been a marathon of logistics and preparations, but we are now bringing our tailored-for-Chile version of Mercy Corps workshops to some 800 boys and girls in the towns of Talcahuano, Penco, Coronel, Hualpén, San Pedro de la Paz and Chiguayante.
The coastal towns that ring the city of Concepción were dealt a double blow on February 27: a pre-dawn earthquake of unprecedented power (8.8 on the Richter scale, among the highest ever recorded) followed by three towering walls of water.
In launching the “My Earthquake/Tsunami Story” (Comfort for Kids) and “Moving Forward” sports programme in schools and community centers, we’ve heard a lot of personal accounts from the parents, teachers and community leaders we’ve trained as mentors, and from the children themselves. Even children whose homes escaped damage tell vivid accounts of relatives or schoolmates losing homes or fleeing from the flooding.
“I love to read and draw and here I can get over being afraid, especially about tsunamis,” five-year-old Abigail Figueroa said about the Comfort for Kids programme. Photo: courtesy of EPES
But as the workshops advance, we’re beginning to hear something new from the children.
Abigail Figueroa, age 5, says “I love to read and draw and here I can get over being afraid, especially about tsunamis.”
Camila Flores, 10, finds the workshop “lots of fun. We write in our workbooks, colour, paint our family, draw what happened to us in the tsunami the houses in the water, what we felt.”
“While it was happening, I thought we were going to die,” she says, “but now we learned that it was an earthquake.”
“The earthquake was a surprise for me, because afterwards, everyone came together, all the neighbors came by to see how we were, people went door to door to see how everyone was doing.”
Wepu Re Pu, Talcahuano
Abigail and Camila are participants in one of two workshops led by Millaray Casteñeda Meliñan in Talcahuano. “How many of you felt that your mother or father was angry, anguished, sad, irritable?” she asks the children, ages 7 to 11. “Remember that none of these things is your fault.”
The workshop is organised by Wepu Re Pu, a new cultural association for urban Mapuches. The name means “building roads” in Mapudungun. Co-founder Ivonne Nahuelpan explains how the workshop entwines two types of recovery: emotional and cultural.
Wepu Re Pu, a new cultural association for urban families from the Mapuche ethnic group, conducts a workshop for children between the ages of 7 and 11. Photo: courtesy of EPES
Interspersed with the workbook activities, Millaray teaches the children songs, greetings and numbers in Mapudungun. Many children know the legend of Tren Tren and how, in ancient times, he helped the Mapuche run into the hills as the waters rose. “To us, this is a story about surviving a tsunami,” says Ivonne.
“This programme has been a gift to us,” she adds. “Our children suffered greatly. They need emotional support. Our culture and cosmovision can help them, too.”
Villa Centinela, Talcahuano
The Villa Centinela Community Hall is located in a housing project in the hills of Talcahuano. Mentors Mery Caro and Herminda Guzman, mothers and community leaders, are eager for the first session to being. While waiting for the children to arrive, we discuss recent news reports that have everyone talking: researchers say that the region can expect a grade 7 aftershock within the next two months.
Some 20 children show up, accompanied by their mothers. The mentors explain how the sessions will help children reestablish the four pillars of feeling safe: People, Place, Ritual and Routine.
They show mothers and children the backpack that each child will receive, packed with pencils, eraser, case, flashlight, a stuffed animal, toothbrush, toothpaste and the "My Story" workbook.
Reestablishing routine is very important, one of the mentors explains. “I bet some of you forgot to brush your teeth after the earthquake,” she chides the children, before catching herself. “Of course, none of us had water then, either,” she laughs.
Rosa Medel Elementary School, Coronel
When the coalmines closed in Coronel, fish factories moved in, bringing poorly paid jobs and a terrible stench. The Rosa Medel Elementary School is located across from a cannery and next to a coal-fired power station in Caleta Lo Rojas, where Educacion Popular en Salud (EPES) ran its first programme nearly 30 years ago.
Of the school’s 230 students, 30 lost their houses.
This poor school was made poorer still once it lost windows, walls and most of its bathrooms. The indoor gym where “Moving Forward” is being held was repaired with a donation from local industries.
Photo: courtesy of EPES
We meet with school principal Carlos Segundo Torres, who reports that his students are still afraid — especially when mothers run to the school to fetch them with every aftershock. But students and parents are growing less apprehensive.
Second grade teacher Jovina Torres credits the workshops for calming nerves. “Just the other day, there was a tremor and the children all looked up at me as if saying ‘OK, we can deal with this.’”
Math teacher José Alarcón took the EPES/Mercy Corps training and then prepared elementary and PE teachers to conduct the My Story and Moving Forward programmes. Some 60 parents attended the launch, Alarcón tells us, which was “an absolute success. You could see it on the faces of the children.” The volley and football balls, a net, a whistle, t-shirts and more are much-appreciated addition to the school’s meagre sports gear, too.
Backpacks with EPES and Mercy Corps logos are all around the schoolyard. But for most children, one item is stored safely at home: the flashlight.
“I take mine to bed with me,” says Carla Copeli, a third grader, “and my mum sleeps there, too.”
Blog Post: Posted May 15, 2010, 10:28 am by Lisa Hoashi
Helping teachers and kids recover in Port-au-Prince
Country: Haiti
In the car with Sandrine and Magdala, two of our talented trainers in Comfort for Kids, our programme designed to teach adults ways to help address the post-earthquake psychosocial needs of children. We’re on our way to the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. I haven’t been to this part of the city yet. It’s a kind of commercial area near the airport, with lots of businesses along the road. As we get further in the neighborhood, the earthquake damage is staggering. Buildings with floors stacked on stop of each other like pancakes. Massive piles of rubble.
We pull up in front of the school, College Alexandre Claubert. Sandrine and Magdala have never been here before.
A group photo of the teachers who participated in the Comfort for Kids training at College Alexandre Claubert. Now they can better help their students cope with their reactions and feelings around the earthquake and recover from their experiences. Photo: Lisa Hoashi/Mercy Corps
I go outside into the street to take pictures while they wait for the teachers to arrive. I can’t believe how hard this neighborhood was hit. Outside I see kids goofing around in their uniforms, some boys pegging each other with little pieces of rubble which leave poofs of white dust on their blue uniforms where they hit. They are scrambling around, laughing.
When I get back to the classroom, there are now 20 teachers who have arrived. They are all teachers at this school, mainly men. I won’t be able to understand the training because it’s in Creole so Sandrine puts me at the front of the class on a chair so she can whisper to me what’s happening. I take notes, which follow…
Introductions. Many of the teachers are also students themselves, young between 20-30. Some study journalism, psychology, accounting. They stand up when introducing themselves.
The classroom: Cement block walls with open windows and grates over them. Linoleum floor, desks wooden with benches. Some are stamped “Unicef.” Son of the director is sitting quietly in the next classroom over, he’s 3 or 4 and so well behaved. Most of the teacher wear polos and sneakers. Dress shoes and slacks. No lightbulb in the ceiling.
Sandrine starts off talking about what an earthquake is. If they had information about it before. How it changed their life.
She asks, How did it change your life? How did it feel?
One man says it made him very sad and very angry. He’s wearing a white pressed shirt and tie, very tall and thin, and when he talked I sensed real bravery in what he was saying.
Another, who was the one who said he studied psychology, said he tried to use what he knew to help others in his neighborhood cope with their feelings after the earthquake.
Magdala reviews the four pillars of security: environment, home, culture, routine. How important they are for everyone, as well as children to have. How with the earthquake they have lost a lot of them and how kids are vulnerable and how we can help them.
Class is seminar style, like a college class. With Sandrine and Magdala lecturing, with breaks in discussion, trading ideas, laughing, coming back to curriculum. Everyone is contributing a lot to the discussion. Sandrine says it’s common, because the information is so new to them.
They are learning how to help others deal with their feelings even when the earthquake is equally as fresh for them.
My own feelings — sadness, empathy. And grateful for the dignity of these trainings, which allow people to talk about their feelings in a supportive environment. Not sure if they have the opportunity elsewhere. I am so glad Mercy Corps is providing these trainings — I see how important they are.
They discuss how the earthquake affected their own lives, how to react in future earthquakes. How to take care of their own children in an earthquake. How to protect them. Then they discuss each age group’s special needs. 0-3, 4-7, 8-12, 13-18. And there are differences between boys and girls.
Then each person is given a slip of paper that has a real comment from a child on it (Mercy Corps collected these) and using what they just learned, they will share with the class what each would say or do with each child. They discuss it in their rows of three.
Some didn’t talk as much as others during the class but when it comes time to present they all speak clearly and confidently with emphasis and pauses.
I think about my own feelings during 9/11. There was that time when I had to catch a flight and there was an anthrax scare in our building and we weren’t allowed to leave. I had to go but I was afraid to set out on my own among so many strangers. It can be frightening to be in a huge city in an emergency.
Sandrine says that one of the sample questions from children was whether the earthquake was a punishment from God. She says that about half of the teachers said they would say, “Yes.” She advised them that it was better to say to younger children that it was from natural causes, because they may have different religious beliefs than the teacher — there are many different religions in Haiti. But if a child is older, then the teacher could ask what they thought, and discuss their beliefs together.
Afterward, a chat with Wilson, an English teacher. He teaches 12-16 year olds. He says: “The information was very helpful. I learned ways that I can respond to the children now. Since the earthquake they have had strange behaviour. When you speak to them, they get very nervous, shy. Now I will give them more time to speak or to get quiet when I ask them to.”
On the way back to the office, we slow in the traffic in Delmas. Sandrine looks past me out the window. She’s looking at a tall wall rising up next to the road where men are propping up mattresses to sell. She says, “Behind there was one of the biggest grocery stores in Port-au-Prince. It completely collapsed in the earthquake. Only four were saved. From cars in the parking lot they estimated 300 people were inside.”
Everywhere there are reminders like these.
A shot of the street just outside the College Alexandre Claubert in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where Mercy Corps gave a Comfort for Kids training. Photo: Lisa Hoashi/Mercy Corps
Blog Post: Posted May 11, 2010, 6:22 am by Muhammad Rizal
Growing with Kedai Balitaku
Country: Indonesia
I believe that helping people to sell nutritious foods for children is the best strategy to ensure sustainability. Since February 2010, Mercy Corps' local nutrition programme — called Kedai Balitaku — has promoted and advertised healthy food and child nutrition to more than 5,000 children under five in 100 kindergartens in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. We are proud to announce three big successes this month from the programme:
- Vendors are using their profits to expand their businesses: Four months ago, Mrs. Harlina was unemployed, but now she has earned an average of £30 per week from selling healthy snacks. The foods that she makes and sells are well-liked by both children and parents in Banda Aceh. Mrs. Harlina is currently applying for a loan from a local micro credit institution to buy a small food processing machine. In addition, three other Kedai Balitaku vendor have used their earnings and new business acumen to grow their businesses: Mrs. Syarifah has already bought a mixer to help in her business. Mrs. Fiza has bought a mixer to help her produce more bread and a motorbike on credit to support the distribution of her products. Mrs. Yanti has bought new furniture and a refrigerator from the profits she got during February, March and April 2010.
- A vendor was invited to participate in the district's Pameran Produk Unggulan (Superior Product Exhibition): Mrs. Rosmaniar was invited by the district of Aceh Besar to participate in a “Superior Product Exhibition from May 3-9, 2010. The project is organised by the local government to promote local products and help small enterprise develop. The opening of the exhibition was attended by almost all government employees and communities in the regency of Aceh Besarh. Mrs. Rosmaniar displayed homemade Banana Cake, Cheese-Banana Bread and Carrot Muffins at the Expo. She also earned £30 from selling various nutritious snacks.
- Children have voluntarily changed from junk food to fruits: In addition to vendor support, Mercy Corps is working to provide extensive health information to more than 500 children under the age of five in nine kindergartens that are located near each of our vendor’s homes. The aim of the health campaign is to change children's food consumption behaviour during school time. Isva Rahmi — Mercy Corps Nutrition Officer — along with her teacher assistant, Fitri, are teaching children about healthy food through role-playing and story telling.
The teachers and I initially thought it would take a long time for children to learn to replace chocolate and candy with fruits and vegetables. However, we were all very surprised with the quick results of the nutrition campaign. On the second visit, Isva taught the children that snacks containing additives are harmful, then asked the children to replace the snacks brought from home with locally available fruits. The result was that almost all of the children collected their snacks and traded them for fruits!
Two schools have reported that they are happy with the result of nutrition campaign. A teacher whose students participated in the programme last week thanked the nutrition team. She said that they are very happy because student’s appetites have become better. The children didn’t eat much before Mercy Corps promoted about healthy food, because the fatty snacks they used to eat had eliminated their appetite.
Another teacher reported that parents have met them recently and said that they are really glad with the change in their children's behaviour. The parent told the teacher that their children had talked to them about the nutrition education campaign. Their children are now aware about nutrition and can choose between healthy and unhealthy snacks.
On the third visit, some children welcomed the nutrition team shouting “We do not eat unhealthy snacks anymore.”
“I didn’t eat candy today,” said one boy. “Me too, I don’t eat chocolate!” said another one. On the third visit, Isva brought Kedai Balitaku homemade snacks with fruits and vegetables inside. She never expected that children would ask her, “is it healthy food you bring?” Here is more to healthy growth!
Blog Post: Posted May 5, 2010, 4:05 am by Dan Sadowsky
Video: Reintegrating land mine survivors
Country: Colombia
Mercy Corps outfitted a rehabilitation centre in southern Colombia with the latest technology as part of a holistic programme to reintegrate land mine survivors back into their communities.
Blog Post: Posted May 3, 2010, 8:32 am by Harum Sekartaji
Padang: seven months after the earthquake
Country: Indonesia
Third-graders at Coroco elementary school, Pesisir Selatan district, West Sumatra. Photo: Harum Sekartaji/Mercy Corps
“Now I know what to do when an earthquake strikes. I will hide under a table,” said Nisa, a third grader at Coroco elementary school, Pesisir Selatan district, West Sumatra after joining a Mercy Corps earthquake and tsunami awareness session.
She wasn’t the only one. Almost a hundred of her friends felt the same way, since they’ve never received any Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) information before. Not to mention the teachers who also gathered in the classroom, listening to the materials given and watching movies on how to best react to earthquakes and tsunamis.
My trip to Pesisir Selatan — about two and a half hours drive south of Padang, the capital and largest city of West Sumatra — was one part of my week in the region to gather stories and photos for our upcoming newsletter on West Sumatra Emergency Response and Recovery (WSERR) Programme. I’ve only been with Mercy Corps Indonesia for less than a month, so this was a huge opportunity for me to understand things going on here seven months after our programme started.
Besides grabbing stories from the school, I also met some of the cadre for our hygiene promotion programmes, who were all women. They told me how important the trainings and materials from Mercy Corps were for socializing hygiene issues in a community where healthy behaviour is rare, due to lack of access to clean water and latrines. Maria, one of the nine hygiene trainers in the village of Sago, even showed me how she trained mothers and children while holding up posters and pointing to the picture cards.
Maria, one of the nine Mercy Corps-trained hygiene promoters in the village of Sago, holds up one of the picture cards she uses to teach mothers and children about proper sanitation. Photo: Harum Sekartaji/Mercy Corps
“These pictures really helped me spread health issues. I’m sure people will change their behaviour even if it takes a long time. I’ll be watching them”, she said.
The day before, I joined a discussion between Mercy Corps and the community of Ganting in Kota Padang, on the plan of constructing latrines in the village. This is one of the permanent latrines about to be built by the communities in Kota Padang, Padang Pariaman and Pesisir Selatan after we built 80 temporary facilities during the emergency time.
“We commit to build the facilities together and will use and maintain them with a big sense of belonging,” said Syafri Syam, the community leader of Ganting.
A sincere thank you came from Safrizal, the neighborhood leader of Kuranji village, whose people received 194 recovery kits during emergency and had help them rebuilt their homes. “Those tools from Mercy Corps will be reused for our latrine construction,” he said, while hoping that the people of his village will get easier access to clean water so that they will change the behaviour of using rivers for daily activities.
I also visited Padang Pariaman — about an hour and a half drive north of Padang. I met beneficiaries of our cash grant and voucher programmes. Rini, a voucher vendor, felt so glad being a part of the programme since she can help her neighbors in providing materials for reconstructing their ruined homes after the earthquake. Marjali, a beneficiary of the programme has redeemed the IDR 700,000 (about £47) voucher into seven sacks of cement and six cans of paint to build a new floor and paint his shop.
“I chose to rebuild my shop before doing so with my house, because I could earn enough money from selling goods to keep on surviving. I can't depend on my green beans,” he said while pointing at his small field where he grows green beans.
A week of interviewing beneficiaries of our emergency kit distribution programmes, making trips to latrine construction sites, meeting hygiene promoters, joining the earthquake awarenss session, and talking about the programme with the passionate staff of the Mercy Corps Padang office has given me a new vision of what the organisation is all about. Now I realize how it has reached so many people, given them benefits and the spirit to keep moving on even after the disaster. Above all, I get to be closer than ever with the community. It was such an awesome week for me.
So — after compiling all the data, photos and stories for our newsletter, here I am — making the most of my last hour in Padang to write my first blog. Really glad to be a part of Mercy Corps!
Blog Post: Posted April 21, 2010, 6:03 am by Mirjam Hendrikse
Helping Gaza's children lead ‘normal’ lives again
Country: West Bank/Gaza
Mohamed Azaizeh. Photo: Mirjam Hendrikse/Mercy Corps
Mohamed Azaizeh is Mercy Corps’ Project Officer for the UK Department for International Development (DFID)-funded psychosocial project in the Gaza Strip. Mohamed joined Mercy Corps in February 2009 — immediately after the Gaza War — to take on a leading role implementing one of the larger emergency response programmes. I have worked with him since I arrived in Gaza a few months later.
With the results of the midterm evaluation report published a short while ago, and the project coming to an end soon, Mohamed is eager to share his experience with others:
“It has been an incredible learning process for me since I joined Mercy Corps. After the Gaza War, I was committed to support children who were suffering from psychosocial problems. It was my wish to help them change their behaviour in a positive way and help them lead a normal life again. With my background as an Occupational Therapist, this psychosocial project was a perfect fit for me.”
“In the first few months of implementation, I was not sure if our small team would be able to reach all our project goals. It was a challenging experience to work with 16 different community-based organisations (CBOs) in three different areas of the Gaza Strip. We worked with over 50 CBO facilitators to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of almost 4,500 children and their families. But together with my team members, and with the help of senior Mercy Corps staff, I believe we have made a difference."
"I feel that because all of us have the same goal, we are able to do what we do so well. The DFID project team is one of the best I have ever worked with!”
The midterm project evaluation report, published at the end of 2009, confirms that efforts of Mohamed and his team have paid off. Almost 70 percent of the parents of children attending psychosocial sessions reported that their children demonstrated significantly fewer behavioural problems — as well as more positive behaviours — at the end of the first project phase than they did at the beginning. Mohamed continues:
“Since the Gaza War, there are several international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that are implementing psychosocial programmes. There are only a few who are implementing their activities by working closely with local CBOs — Mercy Corps is one of them. More importantly, we have a clear focus on building the capacity of our CBOs, so that at the end of the project they can do this important work themselves.”
Mohamed Azaizeh trains some of the community-based organisation (CBO) facilitators who will help improve the psychosocial well-being of almost 4,500 children and their families. Photo: Mirjam Hendrikse/Mercy Corps
“One of the highlights for us and the CBO facilitators has been our work with the Comfort for Kids materials. These were developed by experienced Mercy Corps staff in the United States, but with significant input from us in Gaza. It feels very empowering to be a part of such an important process and we are proud that we have played such an important role in the development of materials that are now used by thousands of children and parents in the Gaza Strip.”
The design and monitoring of the project’s impact, including the mid-term evaluation, has been undertaken with close and active involvement of the Institute of International Health and Development at Queen Margaret University (QMU) in the UK; an innovation that allowed Mercy Corps to learn from their expertise in this area. Mohamed describes the relationship:
“We have been very lucky with the involvement of QMU. With the Comfort for Kids materials being used for the first time in Gaza, it was essential for us to monitor and evaluate our activities in the best possible way. QMU has provided us with the tools and skills necessary, and helped us with the analysis of data collected. Mercy Corps is ensuring that our project team is learning as much as possible from QMU’s involvement. The organisation is helping us to help our own people. In future psychosocial projects we hope that we can do most of the monitoring and evaluation work ourselves!”
“The outcomes of the midterm evaluation demonstrate that we have reached great results. But it also shows us where we can still improve our work. Not all the CBOs that we are working with are performing in the same excellent way. We need to provide the CBOs that face more difficulties with additional support. This is what we have been working on in the past few months. I hope that the team and I will be able to use everything that we have learned with Mercy Corps in other psychosocial programmes.
"Our DFID-funded project comes to an end in March, but the need for psychosocial support in Gaza remains.”
Like us on Facebook ›
Sign up for email updates ›
Follow us on Twitter ›
