Welcome to the Marine Mammal and wildlife Research and Community Development Expedition blog where you can keep up to date with all the happenings and information from Kenya

Friday, July 6, 2012

Health Project: self esteem, contraceptives and research


Our first week of the Shimoni Health Care Project has now come to an end, and we both agree that it has been a great introduction to project-life in Shimoni.  Our first few days were spent getting to know the staff at the local health dispensary and familiarising ourselves with the procedures and facilities there. We were also given a guided tour of Shimoni Village, including the schools we will be teaching at and local sites of interest.

At the request of the Public Health Officer Patrick and the dispensary staff we have commenced research into nutrition and the effects of vitamin deficiencies, contraception and HIV/AIDS prevention, and pre and post natal care in preparation for the Dispensary’s community health talks.  Yesterday we were present at a contraception and STI prevention community health talk, which involved education and demonstrations on the use of various types of contraceptives. We made a PowerPoint presentation to aid delivery of information, which staff and participants both found useful.
Patrick (Public Health Officer) demonstrates how to use a femidon

We also taught Life skills classes at Shimoni Junior Academy and at Shimoni Secondary School. These classes focused on the importance of having high self esteem, obstacles to achieving high self esteem, and ways of overcoming these obstacles. Self esteem was a new concept to most students. However they caught on quickly and were keen to share their own stories of when they experienced high and low self-esteem.

Asha, Dani and students from Shimoni Junior explore the meaning of self esteem
Next week we hope to complete research on sustainable farming methods,as a means of minimizing the nutritional deficiencies within the Shimoni community. We aim to present our findings, with the assistance of the dispensary staff, in an interactive format to members of Shimoni community.  We have both thoroughly enjoyed our first week on the Shimoni Health Care Project, and are excited to continue our work in the weeks ahead.

Ashley Hall and Dani Strongman – Health Project volunteers

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