Dassalami Soce Sept-Septal

During the construction of the health hut, the president of one of the women’s associations approached me to organize a sept-septal.  A sept-septal refers to the cleanup of a community. Prior to the first one we had on December 14^th the women of the village and I held a meeting about the importance of cleaning a village and the positive attributes it has on the health of individuals and infants. In this case, the children less than 5 years old would be the group mostly affected because they are the ones who typically play on the ground.

Before the meeting with the women, Johnie Senghor, the leader of the sept-septal, and I held a meeting on November 8^th with the director of the French school of Dassalami to look at a possible collaboration between the womens’ associations and the students for the sept-septal. Since the meeting, we have had 6 successful sept-septals. They are scheduled to take place every two weeks in the morning before the women go to the fields.

I was proud to see the enthusiasm of the women to work for the greater good of the village. I also want to thank the leader, Johnie Senghor for her dedication, poise and her leadership skills for mobilizing and motivating the women of the village.

We just had a sept septal yesterday and the next one is scheduled to be on Friday March 1^st. Johnnie and I anticipate this project will continue after my service to promote cleanliness and prevent certain infectious diseases. Among the three villages I work for, Dassalami Soce has an influx of children who go to the hospital and die from preventable diseases than the children in the other villages.

The sept-septals in combination with the care group sessions are projected to reduce the rate of children who get sick in the village. I am planning to include family planning in the care group lessons after we finish our first round of VADS (Visit a Domicile). In those VADS, the care group volunteers visit the village households in 2 days to teach families about important health topics like the importance of Handwashing and more.

Finally, I had a meeting with the Director of the French school on February 12^th to gain feedback of the previous sept-septals. He told me that the teachers have decided to organize sept-septals with the children in the school on the last Friday of every month and to collaborate with the women’s associations.