Back to School !

Many thanks and good Karma must go to Desiree and Maslina for coming out to ishahayi and giving a lecture on Malaria and sanitation to the student's and teachers. We'd been planning this for ages, and I must confess most of the posters and teaching materials had been sitting in my office at home gather dust for a little too long (sorry-o to Desi and Mas).

Desi had been busy at the health unit of the American embassy (when she's not trying to buy a house back in Canada and have a baby!!) So literally 5 days before she flys home to settle down and bring a new little Quinn into the world, we're all out at the beach in the heat and humidity - talking to the kids to give them a few basics so they're not always sick all the time...

A great job was done by team Desi & Lady Salami, including a couple of musical numbers and Mas had managed to get some insecticide treated mozzie nets for the teachers off a contact of hers as well as a bunch of posters etc. I must say, that despite all their good will - actually getting anything (even just a picture or poster or something) from aid organisations like USAID and the WHO is like pulling teeth - really slowly

We used the church building (originally built by IBSF as the first school) and it was packed

Literally packed !! (next time we'll get a few parents involved too)

Desi and lady Salami getting the kids to read the posters

The all singing all dancing "this is the way we wash our hands" duo - coming to a theatre near you

Whilst poor sanitary conditions spread plenty of disease and keep the kids from school quite regularly - Malaria is a big problem. The isolation of the community really doesn't help when it comes to the medical attention so desperately required with disease like malaria. Only a month or so ago, a father of 5 from the village died whilst in a boat on his way to the mainland to get treatment for malaria / typhoid. His kids had to drop out of school to maintain a livelihood for the family... As treatment isn't really an option, we were trying for prevention. We had a few insecticide treated nets that pretty much fit a whole family and showed everyone how to use them. Unfortunately we only had a few at the time, but we're hoping to raise some cash to get enough for all the families of the kids at the school (70 or 80 nets) - at only $10 each this will make a massive difference out here. So again - HUGE thanks to Mas and Desi for all their time and effort - particularly in light of all the stuff each of them is going through at the moment.

Finally, Lady salami asked all the children to put up their hand if they wanted to be like Mrs Quinn (Desi). There was a resounding "yeah" and plenty of hands - despite none of them knowing what she does. When they found out she was a Nurse, everyone still wanted to be a nurse, even some of the boys! But when asked if boys can be nurses, all the kids screamed a big "Nooo!!" -I guess it takes time for thing s to change. Desi kindly pointed out that men can be nurses too if they want, and with a final cheer and clap for Desi to give birth to healthy twins!!(sign of good luck around here) we headed back to Lagos - Desi happy to know that she won't have to deal with twins - one's enough first time round, right?