Dear all, just briefly to let you know that Science Cafe was successfully launched in Maracha. Discussions took place in Nyadri market and community participation and involvement was high. The district leadership was very impressed with the feedback they got from community and clearly identified a missing link in the way they have been doing health education and are very ready to adopt this model of community involvement and empowerement. What was interesting was that even before the discussions started, the community came up with the next topic for discussion( How to eradicate poverty and hunger in Maracha).
It was very clear that the district had done alot of sensitization on Cholera due to the outbreak and so people had the knowledge and these was evident by the answers given by the community. Then the community had their concerns which they raised openly and later after the discussions they were asked to come up with interventions and roles and responsibilities to be taken by both the community and the leaders for future which they openly didnt. Initially there were complains about closer of other businesses like food etc by the authorities which they felt was not fair.But when asked to come up with interventions to pevent future cholera outbreak, they mentioned things which are not different from the public health regulations. But this time round, they felt incharge and involved instead of leaders only telling them what to do. The health inspector was happy with this arrangement because he will now use that to hold them accountable in future. The community also brought up issues which are to be handled by the leaders. For example, they claimed there are some retuarants operating without latrines and they wondered why leaders allowed them to do so. They raised issues of rubish collection centers which are lacking, water for washing hands in the market, they said water in the market is being sold and yet some of them cannot afford that water but they need to wash their fruits and their hands before they eat. So this was a two way of holding each other accountable and sharing responsibilities. The team after the discussions came up with both short term and long term plans which I cannot share now but plans are underway to make them actionable and those interested in wanting to be part of these plans should let us know so that they are included in the discussions. Please send a private email incase you want to be included in the team for Science cafe Maracha branch. Hon. Lematia is very passionate about making this actionable in Maracha and she urges any interested parties to come on board to make this a reality in Maracha. Science Cafe Maracha will soon have its own space in the science cafe website for you to get the videos and pictures of what happened, you will view them afte they are processed. Thanks Christine
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