Washing dishes in stagnant water

One of our health workers in Luapula, Zambia, recently sent this picture of a client she was visiting who has been ill. When she arrived at the visit, she found the mother, knee deep in a stagnant pool of water, washing her dishes in the cloudy water. It is no mystery why people constantly fight illnesses caused by unsafe water.

According to The Water Project, nearly one billion people do not have access to clean, safe water. If you do the numbers, that means about 1 in 8 people in our world are affected. For women, this is particularly daunting as they try to safeguard the health of their family and carry out the duties of everyday living.

This is a problem that cannot be solved over night but is, without question, solvable!! We just need to work together address the problem one community at a time.

Jane in school uniform

Jane [the one who had the severe toothache reported on in last blog] is now recovered and back to school. At the completion of this school term in December, she plans to enroll in the 12th grade in January to finish her high school diploma. She is hoping to simultaneously enroll in the first year of a nursing program while completing grade 12! Fortunately, HealthEd Connect has nursing scholarships that allow dreams like Jane's to come true.

While pursuing school, Jane has responsibilities as a single parent of two young daughters, supervises an active Kafwa program that monitors babies, organizes programs for orphans, conducts regular home care visits, and teaches unschooled children the basics of literacy. Whew! Wonder what she does in her spare time?

Justine comforting Jane (red dress)

Jane, the amazing Kafwa supervisor in the rural area of Luapula, Zambia, reported last week she was suffering from a toothache so severe it prevented her from going about her usual activities. She was unable to eat, felt dizzy when she stood up, and was in constant pain. The caregiver was in need of care herself! Her sister, Justine, finally came to care for her until she recovered.

The question many would ask is "why doesn't she go to a dentist?" Good question. The answer, however, is not so simple. First of all, there are no dentists in the rural area where she lives. She has to travel a long distance to visit one. Second, the money required to visit a dentist is prohibitive for most people in Jane's area. As a health worker, Jane is fortunate to have HealthEd Connect emergency funds available for situations such as hers but she still needs to travel to acquire the care. She assures us she is in the process of making arrangements to visit a dentist this week.

In the meantime, she asked for suggestions on things she could do to alleviate the pain. I told her nothing would permanently relieve the pain until she visited a dentist to have the problem fixed. There are, however, some effective traditional remedies I suggested she try (see below).

• Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to a glass of water and swish it in your mouth several times a day. This will help cleanse the tooth, reduce inflammation, and loosen food that might have gotten stuck.

• Chew on guava leaves and then spit them out or make a tea with guava leaves and swish it in your mouth. If there's an infection, the guava leaves will help fight the infection since it fights microbes.

• Pound a piece of garlic into a paste and apply it to the tooth that is aching. The garlic helps reduce inflammation, relieves pain, and fights microbes.
  
  She replied the guava leaves were the most effective. For those of you interested in traditional medicine, Google guava leaf effectiveness and you will find a number of research studies being conducted at various universities demonstrating the antibacterial properties of guava.

Cooking stove smoke

The smoke from cooking stoves in rural Nepal areas continues to cause untold respiratory disease and distress. The village woman pictured above is in an outdoor area that is ventilated but in the winter time, most women cook inside their homes where smoke accumulates and becomes a major health hazard.

Cooking smoke is the next big issue we're planning to tackle in Nepal. Pinkey, the Nepali supervisor, and Sangeeta, one of our volunteers and a professional nurse, are working together to identify acceptable alternatives that vent the smoke. Stay tuned for updates!

Animal shelter in rural Nepal

When Pinkey visited Arunkhola, Nawalparasi District in Nepal last month she encountered an ongoing problem that even today is common in the rural areas. Many women are relegated to staying with the animals or in small outdoor sheds during their menstrual period. Those who do not encounter these isolating circumstances still face hardships since the lack of sanitary supplies forces them to miss school and other activities during their monthly period.

Pinkey took advantage of being in Arunkhola to teach the women how to make sanitary supplies with moisture proof backing and fabrics that can be reused. Pinkey's teaching has caught on everywhere with women eager to gain more control over their lives with simple supplies they can make for themselves.

Pinkey teaching women to make sanitary pads

Usha in mourning clothes

Pinkey, the Nepali health worker supervisor, made a long trip last week to visit the various project sites. When she visited Arunkhola, Nawalparasi District to meet the volunteers there, she reported the following:

"I came to know that our volunteer Usha Sen's Husband passed away, I joined funeral activities there. In Hindu religion its a long process,widow or wife will stay at one specific area and for 13 days they don't touch others, they eat once time a day by prepare rice at place which is away from house, or around people where people cant see while she is eating, they don't eat salt for 13 days and also other siblings,family member don't eat salt also.They use different materials utensil and spon by wood. They wear white cloths."

The whole HealthEd Connect team joins Pinkey in sending sincere condolences to Usha in her time of sorrow.

Sherri (L.) showing Agnes her picture on cover of Annual Report

A touching testimony from Agnes Mwansa, the Reception (Kindergarten) teacher at the Mapalo Young Peace Maker School in Ndola, Zambia. We are so proud to have Agnes at our school!

“I'm one of the living testimony of HealthEd Connect. I passed through a difficult and terrible situation after the company l was working for collapsed. My first husband had died. I tried this and that nothing worked out, so l was poverty stricken with my children for many years. I was only left with a small sewing machine which l used to carry from door to door making clothes and l could only manage for just a meal after two or three days. I was so weak, hopeless, depressed, confused, desperate and so forth from 1999 to 2012.

I joined Young Peace Makers Community School in 2012 as nursery teacher from hence forth things started changing. Now l am managing to take my children to school. In the process of suffering my children did not complete school. For the first time in life my two children have gone up to G12. Because of HealthEd Connect support l am a professional teacher. My life has been lifted up physically, spiritually, emotionally and socially.

Thank you HealthEd Connect for you support. I wish you long life.”

- Agnes Mwansa

A huge thank you to all of our loyal Amazon shoppers! You've raised $1,153.45, to date, just by smiling at HealthEd Connect when you shopped at Amazon. Some people say there's no such thing as a free lunch but we disagree! Your shopping has provided 9,612 lunches for Zambian kids that frequently rely on the school lunch as their sole food that day. Keep smiling and keep shopping!