The Continued Struggle Against Polio

By Dustin Wright, PCI Staff

During the 20th century, medical advancements helped take the offensive against the polio virus, which has plagued and crippled people since the days when Egyptian pharaohs were erecting pyramids. The polio vaccine made its debut in 1955 and was soon distributed in an oral form which made administration of the vaccine easier. People in even the most remote regions were receiving the life-saving treatment.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the last remaining polio endemic countries are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and India, with the later having the highest number of confirmed cases. Already in 2008, India has confirmed 82 new cases of polio, adding to the 864 cases the country logged last year. The second highest endemic country, Nigeria, has confirmed 18 cases this year, with 286 reported last year.

Obviously, poverty and poor education are main factors that contribute to the tenacity of the virus in these countries. In Nigeria, for example, some Muslim communities have resisted polio vaccination because of the belief that Western countries are using the vaccine to inject Muslims with chemicals that will reduce their fertility or infect them with HIV/AIDS.

War and conflict aren’t helping things either, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even non-endemic countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad.

With the largest number of infections, India is the focus of many eradication campaigns. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh experienced a polio outbreak last year and PCI India responded by increasing its presence in the region. Volunteers were dispatched door to door to ensure that local families were taking part in available immunizations. Community leaders were contacted to spread the word and local mosques made announcements. After a century of technological advancements in the fight against polio, spreading the word may well be the weapon that ends the war.

A Glimpse of Life "Behind the Pearly Gates"

By Laurel Kirkland, PCI Staff

I was originally introduced to Project Concern International (PCI) by a new friend upon moving to San Diego. At the time I was looking to get involved with an organization like this. As a matter of fact I was hoping to find one EXACTLY like this. Fortunately enough I applied for and was accepted into an internship with the Program Development department allowing me the opportunity to familiarize myself more with the International NGO world.

I was immediately given projects that conveyed a confidence in my ability and intelligence. Instantly I found myself immersed in the non profit organization lingo, what I think should be termed, Acronymian. As I swam in a sea of acronyms, research, and editing projects I had a chance to learn PCI’s different strokes. I tried to be friendly, helpful and make connections with people from all departments in the office (which isn’t difficult, they are a welcoming bunch). I worked hard and asked lots of questions. Not long after my internship began, approximately one month, a position as Office Assistant/Receptionist opened up and I jumped at the opportunity to get on board this fine ship. I knew this was my chance to get a foot in the door and was given a lot of encouragement to do so.

Now I am continuing to learn more about Project Concern International and am eager to stick with the organization with hopes of moving up. I have had a glimpse of the incredible group that is the machine Project Concern International. I am convinced that every one of the people working here has good intentions. We are a wonderful family who celebrates together by having potlucks and lunch outings. Our VP for Technical Services and Program Development, Janine Schooley cleverly creates appreciative farewell songs for those that leave us which we all sing in unison at a farewell lunch. For Valentine’s Day we all drew Secret Valentines and came in to discover something special in our cubicle. For Halloween we dressed up and trick or treated around the office. We work very hard but there’s always room for a little fun around here too.

PCI from the insider’s view is probably just as amazing as it is from the outsider’s view, this is no mirage folks. These people are dedicated to making this world a better place. We are progressive, innovative and compassionate in our overall work and within our individual office.

PCI Fights for Clean Water in Tanzania: The Babati Health Through Water & Sanitation Project

By Janna Smith, PCI Intern

“We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking-water, sanitation and basic health care.”

Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General

Lack of immediate access to water can have adverse effects on the health and development of a community, and especially affects the women and children of the community. In many parts of Tanzania, women and children spend an average of 6-8 hours per day accessing clean water. This can prevent some children, especially girls, from attending school, since water is usually collected by girls. Traversing long distances also leads to more danger for women and girls- including sexual assault, and rape. Children also frequently miss school due to illness, stemming not only from water-borne diseases, but also from walking long distances without shoes.

PCI has been working for many years in the area of water, sanitation, and environmental health. We have found that freeing up time for women and girls who spend hours each day collecting water positively impacts their health, education, and overall well-being, which in turn leads to positive community development and capacity building.

We firmly believe that community involvement is crucial to the success of our programs. Collaborating with community leaders is an essential part of the process to assess local needs and make decisions that would best benefit the local people. To this end, PCI has teamed up with the district council in Babati, a region in north-eastern Tanzania, and another community-based organization called ADRA/Tanzania to implement our newest water and sanitation project, called the Babati Health Through Water and Sanitation Project, funded by the Starbucks Foundation-Ethos Water Fund. This project will provide safe water for at least 30,000 people in the Babati region of Tanzania, as well as education programs for better sanitation and hygiene practices to mitigate the incidence of water-borne diseases. The project will also build rainwater harvest systems in schools within the area, so that children will have access to clean water while they are in school.

PCI has carried out successful water and sanitation projects in Central America, India, and Indonesia, and hopes to add Tanzania to the list of sustainable water projects in which women and children especially reap the benefits.

WATER IS LIFE

Access to basic water supply and sanitation services are increasingly acknowledged as fundamental for health and development, and are being increasingly accepted as a fundamental human right. In observance of World Water Day on March 22, 2008, I thought I’d share some interesting facts about this basic necessity that can help translate the global problem into terms that are a bit more easily digestible:

• A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.


• A human being needs about .5 to 1.5 gallons of drinking water - which weighs from 4.5 to 11 lbs - per person per day to maintain health. Imagine carrying enough water to meet your family’s needs every day.


• Did you know the average girl/woman in Nicaragua spends 6 hours a day obtaining water? By bringing water to her household, 10 years of her life (6 hours day times 365 days times 40 years) can be freed up to be much better spent on other things such as education, economic development, and improving health.


• A third of the Earth’s population lives in “water-stressed” countries and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades.


• We use an average of nearly 40 gallons of water per person each day in our homes; our great grandparents managed with under 5 gallons.


• Many people in the world exist on 2.5 gallons of water or less each day. Our toilets can use that amount in one flush.

So what can you do??? Here are a few concrete ways you can immediately get involved:

• Join PCI and other organizations to participate in the Walk for Water that will take place in LA, Seattle and NYC on Saturday, March 22.


• Join the Virtual Walk for Water and your name will be included in a symbolic water jug to be carried by a participant in one of the local Walk for Water events.


• Create a Water Advocate page and tell the world why the cause matters to you.

Over one billion people on the planet lack access to clean, safe water. Let’s take this opportunity to effect change and make a positive contribution toward addressing the problem – one family, one village, one community at a time.

A Grandmother Finds WORTH in Zambia

Maweta Tembo sits among her four small grandchildren in the village of Chiwala, part of the Chongwe District outside of Lusaka, Zambia. A 72-year-old widow, Maweta has already raised six children of her own but now must care for her grandchildren, whose parents were killed by AIDS.

Before the PCI-led WORTH program, each day was a struggle for the grandmother. With little money, her grandchildren often went without food and she could not afford the fees required for them to attend school. But now, there is hope for Maweta.
In the Chongwe district, there are currently 5,000 women enrolled in the WORTH program. Combined, these women provide care for 11,550 orphans and vulnerable children. WORTH empowers these women by providing them access to literacy classes and economic training. With help from local organizations, women are encouraged to form self-managed community groups and taught how to manage and save money. The savings are used to create village banks that can provide local women with microenterprise loans.

After attending a WORTH community orientation, Maweta began mobilizing women in her village to form a group. After nine months, Maweta has learned how to read and write and gained basic math and accounting skills.

In January 2007, Maweta sold mangoes and managed to save $60. She used the money to buy school requisites for her grandchildren so they can continue with their education. She also received a loan from the village bank in order to start a business. Maweta is currently buying fast selling food items and re-packaging them into smaller and affordable sizes for her customers. The profit realized from the business goes towards meeting her grandchildren’s basic needs and she no longer feels the worrisome financial burden she once did.
"If WORTH had been launched years back in my area I would have been rich and my own children could have been educated!" Maweta said.

For more information on PCI’s work in Zambia, visit http://www.projectconcern.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Responding_to_the_AIDS_Crisis_in_Zambia.

Teaching by Example: The Story of Mariel

Like every morning, in a warm sector of the municipality of Santibáñez in Bolivia, anxious students of the Luís Guzmán Araujo School sit outside and wait happily, expressed through their small smiling faces. It is the beginning of a new school day and the boys and girls of the fourth grade, with their typical childhood curiosity, anxiously await the beginning of the day to learn more about the problem of environmental contamination, which days before their professor, Norma Cabas, taught them, using the knowledge imparted on her by Project Concern International.

Mariel Rodríguez Antezana, a lively and highly observant nine-year old girl who attends this school daily, tells us that her greatest aspiration is to become a teacher. With her high level of intelligence, she was quick to realize the harm that the plastic bags and bottles strewn about her community were causing to the environment.

Conscious of this harm, Mariel quickly learned to recycle this material and converted herself into a teacher's helper, telling her classmates to transform the same harmful material into pretty and useful crafts, like beautifully knit tablecloths, placemats, and bags.

This young but great teacher, with hope lighting up her face, now works laboriously together with her classmates that consider her their leader in the war against plastic.

Upon asking her what would be her greatest wish if she could have anything in the world, without a doubt in her voice Mariel answered, "I want to keep studying."

Just as it does in the Luís Guzmán Araujo School, PCI works to promote the recycling of plastic bags in more than 1,200 schools in Bolivia, and has educated to date many children like Mariel, who learn to take action in order to care for our environment.

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To learn more about PCI's work in Bolivia, please visit http://www.projectconcern.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Combating_malnutrition_and_poverty_in_Bolivia.

Project Concern and the International Year of Sanitation
- Katrina Lee
As an intern for Project Concern International, I’ve noticed that many of the topics on this blog deal with predominantly poverty and health issues. A topic that really interested me of late was PCI’s involvement with the UN’s International Year of Sanitation. Backed by the UN’s Millennium Development goals, member nations will report back to the UN on May 2008 to update on their progress in improving areas such as access to water, adequate drainage systems, housing quality, and waste management.

Access to clean water and adequate sanitation for developing communities is a major aspect of PCI’s programmatic focus and is a critical component in improving overall health for families in need. Since 2004, PCI has been implementing in a project called CASCADA, which promotes the creation of regional and national water sanitation systems that work to improve sanitation in some of the poorest areas of Central America. In Nicaragua, CASCADA has helped reorganize the country’s National Water and Sanitation Network and created four additional networks as well as community-based sanitation organizations such as community water boards.

While Project Concern International operates various other programs, I believe that CASCADA is unique in its ability to address sanitation issues at the government level while fully involving the local community. In a greater context, I believe that the International Year of Sanitation is one of the most significant milestones in progressive development. Today, simple issues such as the availability of clean water and waste removal seem far-fetched to many because of the reaches of modernization. It is important to realize that many communities to this day still lack these basic amenities.

We at PCI are committed to providing access to these basic needs, and look forward to seeing increasing progress on this front during 2008, the International Year of Sanitation.