Kavumu Village Care Group

We traveled to the Kavumu village in the Karambo Cell to visit our first care group. Nine of the ten members were present for their monthly meeting. The chief of the village was also present, and gave us more information about what care groups do.

" Care groups are very important. Members of the group join and work together to make house visits. There are 100 houses in the village. They aim to mobilize hygiene, decrease malaria, and reduce malnutrition. Due to the Care groups, our cell has gone from twelve malnourished kids to four." 

 The chief of the care group leads the lesson for the rest of the members of the group. They then take the information they learned and disseminate it to the village. The lesson that we observed was malaria prevention.

The leader began by greeting all of the members and reviewing the lesson from the previous meeting. Once she began discussing today's topic she began to use the counseling cards provided by the MOH. The card showed three sets of photos. She had members describe what each photo was portraying. The first photo showed a pregnant mother and child sleeping under a mosquito net. The next photo depicted persons cutting down trees in which mosquitoes live as well as getting rid of stagnant water. The last photo portrayed persons killing mosquitoes with pesticides. After each picture, the leader asked "what have you learned from this?". She also asked what you can do in your home to avoid malaria. She did a very good job of reiterating important information and ensuring that all members knew many ways of preventing malaria.

The next portion of the meeting was a demonstration. Members gathered to show how to use a bug net if a proper bed is not used.

Lastly the care group was separated into two and each were given a sign depicting different important messages. They had five minutes to meet as groups and discuss the message behind each picture. After this time was up, everyone reconvened as a large group to present. One sign was a picture of a proper latrine, while the other was proper hand washing using soap.

Following the conclusion of the meeting, we asked about their successes and challenges.

Successes

• Join together and provide moral support
• Give important information to households 
• Persons of the village benefit by seeing the good example that care group members present

Challenges 

• Often get hot and tired as houses are far apart
• It is difficult to change behavior
• There is difficulty getting roofing material for the latrine