Work Placement

When we arrived in Ikom on the 14th October, we spent a week having in community training which included learning how to work with communities, how to leave a sustainable impact and what to expect. The second week starting on the 24th was for us to get into our teams and plan the whole work programme so we would be prepared to start work the following week. There's 3 groups on the programme: health, education and livlihood's. Health are broadcasting a radio show every saturday for 45 mins concerning issues mainly involving sexual health. They are also holding workshops to create awareness for HIV/AID's and to carry out HIV and maleria tests. Education team plan to cement 4 school floors along with a school hall and find resources for a school library in Ajassor. In Bendeghe, they are restoring a community library and finding resources for a school library. The Livlihood team are trying to find better ways of living and healthier lifestyles for the communities. They will do this by holding workshops and working closly with the community. There are also sub commities such as media and social. I'm in both the education and media team. So far in 6 weeks of work the education teams has cemented 3 school floors, found space for a community library, started building tables, chairs and bookshelves for 2 school libraries and currently finding resources for both of them. Working out here can be tough at times due to everything being very slow paced and communication and response from the community can be hard. So far all the teams have acheived so much and were all really pleased with the progress were making. In some cases the communities have really shown togetherness and totally exceeded our expectations so we have to be pleased with our efforts because we are trying and after we leave there will be another team coming out in January to carry on our work so the work will be sustainable.