Panagiotis
gcpetrop79
martsolka
Filed under: Sierra Leone
I believe in a tangible world with loopholes that lead to ostensibly invisible realms. I can believe in things beyond my ken and I believe I still have the right to judge things within my expertise. I believe in apt innuendos and tormented credos. I believe in absolute logic as long as it is not the so-called ”human” one. I believe that people are irreverent creatures, that equanimity is easy to reach and each one of us can achieve it if only one could stall for a second and look around.
I believe in clandestine rituals that are your own choice only if you fully understand them in depth. I believe there is no such thing as humanitarianism if you have never felt pure love. I believe a brisk breeze can change the way you perceive reality while a cloudy day can easily drive you to suicide even if you are the happiest person on earth.
I believe in rainforests, primitive ones with trees that speak to each other and I believe you can actually join the conversation if you pay attention and listen for once. I believe development depends to ones perception and you can never be sure that your own perception is the right one for others. I believe money can save lives but usually they destroy them. I believe common sense is a big joke and once you’ve seen a child dying of common diarrhoea you can understand why. I believe there will be no better human voice than Beth Gibbon’s just because it’s utterly un-human. I believe atheism is the best religion one can have faith in and the rest are just poor means to control the masses.
I believe a war can be constructive and fair as long as it does not involve firearms and dead bodies but there are times that you need the later to make a war constructive. I believe falling in love can happen more than once in your life and whoever says it can’t has never experienced ultimate love. I believe drugs can open your mind once your mind is already open, in any other case just avoid them. I believe Africa has its own thing going on and if we-westerns-want to help we better follow the trend otherwise we might consider that leaving Africa alone is the most humanitarian thing we can do.
I believe children shouldn’t die and life span in developed countries shouldn’t be that high, after all we are too many. I believe tolerability is one of the elements I will never understand about human nature, after all it is only a manifestation of cowardice and I don’t get it how humans can be so fucking cowards. I believe life is precious for each one of us but not for the universe as a whole. I believe non-governmental organizations are more governmental than the government itself while they are mostly depend on anti-governmental personnel. I believe that defiance has nothing to do with atrocity, that intensity can be deceptive and alacrity is a venture that shudders me.
I believe chirping cicadas is the best lullaby during a summer’s day. I believe adultery is overrated and once you are loyal to what you feel faithfulness will not make any difference. I believe in ultimate anarchy as long as people know what they want, in any other case a wisdom monarch is a better solution than any of the current democracies worldwide. I believe once in this life I was a moonchild dreaming in the shadows of the willow, talking to the trees, sleeping on the steps of a fountain, playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn, waiting of the sun on the mountain. I believe in fairy tales with unhappy endings they make me easily cry and I don’t have the chance to cry a lot lately.
I believe Sam is the coolest character I ever encountered in a book and I am rather sorry that I stole her idea but I am sure if she were a real person would understand. I believe YOU are enjoying this monologue only because I enjoy writing it this very moment under candle light somewhere in Africa, past midnights. Hahahahah… I believe laughing is more essential than blood if you want to keep your heart beating. I believe my English can be totally nasty, after all I am from Kalamata, but for sure they get better after a glass of Jameson. I believe in fudge factors and blinks of intelligence. I believe we can do more than we think we are able to and we need no god to tell us that, for a good friend is enough. I believe accepting death brings balance to ones life and balance is the key to happiness. I believe Neil Gaiman rules cause he knows when it’s time to end a story and I should follow his paradigm.
I believe life is simple in a complex way that we may never understand and that will be our ending.
(Inspired by Neil Gaiman’s novel “American Gods”)i
Filed under: Sierra Leone
…for those living in the developed part of the world,
the others might actually find it quite useful!
(1) There are an estimated 500 million people at risk of malaria in Africa alone. Approximately 250 million nets are required to cover this population and, if a net has an average life span of five years, this means 50 million nets a year are needed to maintain coverage.
(2) Most malaria-endemic countries in Africa spend only US$ 4 per capita a year on health, equivalent to the average cost of an untreated net in countries where nets are widely available. It would require US$ 200 million a year to provide 50 million nets and a further US$ 25 million a year to treat these nets with insecticide.
(3) Paederus sabaeus Erichson also known as the Nairobi fly or Champion fly is a Staphylinid beetle f
ound in both East and West Africa. The genus Paederus has almost 600 species worldwide. It is an active predator of several crop-damaging insects and occurs in warm tropical 
climates. The insect breeds in wet rotting leaves and soil. The beetle is drawn to light fixtures and candles at night. The beetle does not bite or sting, but when crushed against the skin it releases a potent toxin known as pederin that results in itching, burning, erythema and oozing 12-48 hours later.
(4) Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, now threatens the lives of millions of people in Africa 
once again. The disease was under control between 1960 and 1965 thanks to mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk and vector control in some foci but reappeared during the 1980s. In 1995, around 300 000 people were estimated to be infected by the disease. Sleeping sickness is transmitted by the bite of tsetse flies, killing people and causing abortion and perinatal death from mother-to-child infection.
(5) Bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bed bugs seek out 
people and animals, generally at night while these hosts are asleep, and painlessly sip a few drops of blood. While feeding, they inject a tiny amount of their saliva into the skin. The skin lesion produced by the bite of a bed bug resembles those caused by many other kinds of blood feeding insects, such as mosquitoes and fleas. Despite what you may have heard or read elsewhere, bed bugs are not known to transmit any infectious agents.
Backstage trivia: Two months ago I was treated for malaria falciparum ( I do sleep under a bednet and I am on prophylaxis with Malarone), three months ago I suspected presence of bedbugs on my bed, one month ago i was chasing a tsetse fly out of the landcruiser, last week I did the awful mistake to crush a nairobi fly on my leg (by mistake…)!
Filed under: Sierra Leone | Tags: case study, humanitarian, NGO, Sierra Leone
It’s been a long time I haven’t contributed to this blog and the two watchdogs (yes that is you George and Panos) started barking. It is a quiet Sunday night in Kenema, sitting at my usual post (see my first blog for details) catching up with work so I thought to drop some lines. I had actually started writing about something totally abstract while at the same time I was reviewing a few case studies I had prepared to submit together with my programme annual report to our donor when I realized that they could make a great blog so here you go…
For reasons of discretion NGO X will be the organization I am working for!
Global Handwashing Day Festivities led by School children…
During Global Hand Washing day 2008,NGO X initiated relevant festivities in 6 operational Health Action Zones in Gorama Mende chiefdom. 495 randomly selected students from 33 primary and secondary schools at NGO X’s operational areas in Gorama Mende chiefdom participated in a sequence of festivities that included sensitization and training on “Proper Handwashing Behaviours & Affiliation with Germs and Common Diseases (Diarrhoea, ARI)”, distribution of soap, kettles, IEC materials and community awareness through student parades.
In order, for children to understand the route of transmission between Handwashing, Germs and Diseases, NGO X’s Health team prepared a simple “Germ Gel” with common hair styling gel and glitter cosmetic. A small amount of “Germ Gel” was put on a child’s hand who subsequently had to handshake with his/hers friends and so on… At the end of the game the audience counted how many hands were glossy! The idea was based on the Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna (“HealthAwakening”) program began in 2002 as a rural health and hygiene education initiative in India that used the “Lifeboy”-glow germ demo kit.
A few weeks later the Global Handwashing Day, a group of children were playing outdoors when a mother brought food in front of them. Some of the kids attended to instantly start eating while some others stopped them urgently and explained them how their hands might be germ carriers and that they should all immediately go and wash their hands.
Global Handwashing Day Workshop for street-food vendors…
During Global Handwashing Day NGO X in collaboration with the Environmental Health Office of Kenema District Health Management Team, financially and technically supported a workshop with title “Promotion of hygienic behaviours to Public Food Handlers” for 50 street-food vendors and 10 stakeholders from greater Kenema township. Handwashing promotion stickers prepared by NGO X and distributed to participants.
A couple of weeks later, a street-food vendor near the main Kenema town flea market was identified by the Health Programme Manager to carry a bottle of water connected to a bar of soap with a string. The bottle had a NGO X handwashing promotion sticker on it.
Malnourished children & the Positive Deviance/Hearth approach…
Ada Kamapoh, 7 months old was admitted at the PD/Hearth session with entrance weight 4.2 kg which indicated severe malnutrition. Ada is Adama’s (mother) and Alfred’s(father) last child. Both parents had little knowledge on appropriate child feeding practices and household disease treatment behavior. Mother was totally discouraged by community’s overall opinion that Ada would not survive.
By the third session Ada graduated with a weight of 9.2 kg, overall she managed to gain 5 kg through the PD/Hearth sessions. This event motivated more mothers with malnourished children to join the Hearth.
On their own initiative they established two new Hearth sites in Kennyema. Hearths were facilitated by volunteer mothers which also formed a club named Ndo Makeh, meaning ‘Raising children the proper way” in Mende dialect. They also supported the Hearths with food contribution from their own farms.
Ada’s mother testimony:
“I am grateful to NGO X’s nutrition team. My baby was seen in the community as a living corpse that will not survive. I was not happy because there was no one to lead me on how to sustainably rehabilitate my own baby. My child had severe weight loss, pale colour hairs and all visible features of malnutrition… When I attended the 1st cycle at the Hearth session Ada started gaining weight immediately. I am happy that my baby has changed and now the members of the village talk about Ada being a human being again.”
Filed under: Sierra Leone
From here to there and back again*
* J.R.R. Tolkien
On a time there was a pointed ear girl named Mazikeen, well known as the green moth. She had a great love affair with Constantine, a forester of the Uganton, who lived in a house in the woods far far away from her. Constantine and Mazikeen were sharing a great friendship with a goblin named Pansavul who lived in the dark deserted land of Rumbekton. Following you will encounter snapshots from their venture to meet each other at the black Zanzibarian fairylands.
The iron bird that Mazikeen used to escape from her kingdom. Russian guards helped her to sneak into the bird’s vibrating guts and fly away. The bird was howling all the way… like the Nazgul monsters of Mordor.
Mazikeen hiding in a nasty bathroom-cage trying to inhaledrink her potion.
Potion ingredients: Star Sierra Leonean beer + Old Holborn blue hand rolling tobacco 
Mazikeen´s fly-ing shoes and the Great pink-stripped-Hugo-Boss-suit-zebra-shoes Black Magician. She encountered him during her loooong travel from the Leonean kingdom to Zanzibarian fairylands. She used the Kenyan dragonlines that urgently stopped at their Kenyan nest for fire refuelling.
After all the hardships, Mazikeen and Constantine finally meet each other after a long time. Bonfire, banda-hut, red wine and a tidal coral beach was waiting for them… obeisance to romanticism!
The green moth and Pansavul, the goblin in front of their Zanzibarian Helly Hansen cart. Notice the beautiful palm tree mirage… also the happiness to a fault!
Pansavul, expaining the difficulties of living and working at the Rumbekton dark lands, quite the same as living in Mordor! The fires of war are covering the vast desert. Will mankind ever change?
This is what people call equanimity… and our heroes experienced it for 10 consecutive days.
Mazikeen and her potions again, in a different setting. Cheers to all of you! Zanzibarian fairylands are totally recommended folks…
