When It Becomes Personal

Nearly one year has passed at my site in the Central District of Malawi, Africa. I have seen cold season, hot season (a dreadful climate) and rainy season all. Not only is it my one year mark, but April 25th is World Malaria Day. Most of my friends who know me well, know that my inner nerd loves talking about this stuff. Anything parasitic or infectious is right up my alley. In fact, my Peace Corps Directors know it as well, which is why I was fortunate enough to attend Peace Corps' Stomping Out Malaria in Africa's Sixth Boot Camp back in mid-February 2013.

Why do I love parasites? Well, I'm a Masters International student at Tulane University's School of Public Health and that's exactly what I studied. I find them fascinating that's all I can say. Ask me, or any of my colleagues in the same discipline, and we can tell you all about life cycles of crazy diseases that most Americans probably have never heard of. Malaria is one of them.

What I could not tell you while studying and enjoying life in New Orleans was how malaria affects people on a personal level. This among so many other things was why I wanted to let Peace Corps ship me off to sub-Saharan Africa to put my coursework to good use.

Fast forward from New Orleans 2011 to Malawi July 2012. I was in my third month here at site among the mountains. My house is nestled in corn and tobacco fields. There are two houses next to mine. I have a few neighbors and one of them was about 3 years old at the time. My neighbors are really wonderful. They bring my cooked pumpkins and offer to share nsima, the staple starch in Malawi, with me quite often. Marta the 3 year old would peak in my door and speak to me in the local langauge of Chichewa. I was always so proud of myself when I could understand her.

One night during July, which is also the cold season here in Malawi I heard horrible crying from next door. Honestly, I was scared, but I went outside to try and figure out what was happening. My landlord's wife, who speaks English well came over to tell me that Marta, the three year old, had passed away. I was completely shocked. Was Marta sick? She looked completely healthy just a few days back.

The next day I attended the funeral. Malawians grieve differently than Americans. The women cry loudly and the men sit solemnly. It was horrible. Since funerals go the entire day I decided to take a break and go to the health center for an hour or two to chat with someone. The Medical Assistant, or doctor, was around. He told me that the little girl was really sick from malaria. He said that when they finally took her in she had to be referred to the District Hospital because it was severe malaria, but that it had been too late. "Have you never seen a child pass away before?" he asked me, completely nonchalant. At that point I didn't know what was worse, the fact that Marta had died or the fact that this was seen as a normal occurrence here in Malawi.

In fact, this is "normal" in Malawi. On average Malawi sees about 6 million cases of malaria each year. About forty percent of children admitted to hospital here in Malawi is attributable to malaria. This parasite, if caught early, can be treated and cured. It can be prevented by sleeping under a bed net treated with insecticide to kill and repel the mosquitos that both bite you while you sleep and spread malaria. No one needs to go through what I saw my neighbors go through.

Both before, but especially after attending Boot Camp I knew that I had to do something in my community to help combat this problem. It's no longer just a geeky interest, it's seriously personal. Soon I will be holding an event here in my own community centered around malaria prevention and control. Through drama, secondary school involvement, participation from the Village Headman and other figures I hope to educate and push the whole community to prevent malaria.

However, I want to see every volunteer here in Malawi involved in malaria prevention both on a large and small scale. The last year of my life flew by here, so I know the remaining 12 months will go by even faster. Before I leave I hope to see Malawi's Stomping Out Malaria in Africa program organized in a way that all volunteers can fight to end this disease here once and for all.

Stomping Out Malaria in Africa is a Peace Corps initiative that uses strategic partnerships, targeted training Volunteers and intelligent use of information technology to support the local malaria prevention efforts of over 3,000 Volunteers in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information go to stompoutmalaria.org and follow Stomp activities at http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria.