August 18, 2008
Batey Central, Barahona
The Dominican Republic
and
Burnsville,
North Carolina
Hello,
I want to update you on the
collaborative work that I have had the good fortune to participate in
over the past four years in Pakistan and more recently the Dominican
Republic. I am still working but this year have become “part-time”
; I will spend only about three months each year in Barahona from now
on. More time is now spent on the ‘phone talking with the Barahona
team coordinator, and people who can maximize our efforts. It is good
to be home with Alice and our family and friends and I have come to
recognize how important our family is.
As everyone is aware, Pakistan
is going through some very turbulent times especially in and around
Peshawar where the Taliban influence or dictate political and everyday
policy. The very recent transition in presidential leadership will probably
result in more short term turmoil and tragedy. Two years ago, as this
current political climate was unfolding, Dr. Nadeem Khawar, professor
of Pediatrics at Khyber Medical College, and I wrote a grant proposal
to the Rotary Club of Pisgah Forest (Brevard, NC) concerning the detection
and treatment of childhood tuberculosis. A generous donation from a
local running club and the First Baptist Church of Spruce Pine, NC had
allowed us to develop an earlier pilot program at the hospital where
I worked in Peshawar. As of this summer, Dr. Khawar (see below) and
his team have received three year’s funding from Rotary International
to continue this project despite the considerable tension within the
city. Two new sites have been selected increasing the opportunity for
disease detection and treatment. (You may not be aware that Pakistan
has the sixth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world.)
Dr. Khawar, Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan
I have now spent almost 18
months in the Dominican Republic and have had the opportunity to know
many people and learn from them. (At many levels I am learning more
and more and I suppose that is one of the factors that continues to
attract me.) We have built a good educational team drawn from the community
which it serves. They seem to help each other along with just getting
the job done. So far we have educated 125 families about proper hygiene
and how to have potable water through proper water chlorination. All
of this education was done in the individual household by a visiting
team member.
While safe water cannot be
completely secured though chlorination, it is better than local water
sources which are contaminated with coliforms, giardia and at times
other pathogens.
Boy bathing and drinking
contaminated from a community water pipe
Water chlorination kills bacteria
and viruses, but is not effective against the parasites which are prevalent
in that region; moreover, there is a need not only for drinking water,
but for bathing and food preparation as well. After researching the
various methods of purifying adequate water for a family’s daily needs,
we selected the biosand filter because of its proven record in the Dominican
Republic and its evaluation by external agencies such as the School
of Public Health at the University of North Carolina (UNC).
Beginning in late November,
we started selecting families as candidates to receive a biosand water
filter; these devices, with proper post filtration chlorination, eliminate
bacteria, viruses, and parasitic organisms from the water. To date
we have had 50 filters to distribute although we have recently received
grants (Food for the Poor, Diocese of Western North Carolina) for 75
more.
In July and August, Meredith
Niess, a UNC medical student and MPH candidate, and I visited all families
receiving filters to discern what were the issues with the filters and
the opportunities for improvement. We learned that about 30% of families
were sharing the filters with other families, a factor we now want to
emphasize in order to augment the population covered by a filter. Ms.
Niess was instrumental in promoting team discussions and helping develop
better team documentation and more efficient function. Her contributions
in our summer work are significant and are appreciated.
We have other grants for water
filters in progress and hope to receive at least another 50 filters,
in addition to those already funded but not yet placed.
Children with a recently
installed biosand filter
Meredith Niess interviewing
a household leader during a domino game
Team training session to
improve follow up of filters and documentation
In April this year, St. Thomas
Episcopal Church in Burnsville had a breakfast fundraiser and we have
secured team salary support until next June. This funding allows project
security for another year at least and permits enough optimism to add
another program to our efforts. Through a very generous donation from
Drs. Rhonda and Bill Webb of Shreveport, we are beginning a maternal-early
childhood nutrition program; we will focus on how to provide good nutrition
beginning with conception and extending to the fifth year of age. Part
of the grant will be used for a bilingual educator to teach the team
who then will host small workshops for families to educate them on the
value of breast feeding, availability of nutritious food sources and
the different preparation opportunities. The remainder of the funds
will help cover the cost of high quality (USA) prenatal and infant vitamins
which will supplement our in-home education program.
Looking back over the years
since late 2003 when I began organizing to work abroad, I feel that
I have been very fortunate to have all of you as friends and supporters.
As a project we are trying to move away from individual financial requests
and seek grants to sustain our nutrition and water filter programs and
find a straight forward way to underpin the salaries and general program
expenses (about $ 7000/annually). I feel that with the continued interest
that everyone has we will find ways to fund our work and these reports
in the future will continue to provide interest and thought for you
as well as answer the question of “ Who is my neighbor?”.
David Johnson
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
P.O.Box 591
Burnsville, NC 28714
Pakistan/Dominican Republic Health Project
“Three Children Die Every Minute [Worldwide] from Unsafe Water”
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
UN