While I primarily work with the
Red Cross (RC) and schools within Sefhare, I am a community volunteer, and try
to work with as many institutions within Sefhare that I can. One of those
institutions is the hospital in my town, the Sefhare Primary Hospital.
Because of the rapid spread of
HIV/AIDS in Botswana, all health clinics and hospitals provide free condoms to
Batswana. Most clinics run out of condoms quickly, however, because Sefhare has
a hospital (which provides condoms to clinics), the condom supply is plentiful.
However, in Sefhare, the hospital is on the edge of town. This provides several
problems for community members regarding the ease of access to free condoms.
First, many people don’t want to travel that far to have access to free
condoms. They also don’t want to spend money on condoms. Therefore, they have
sex without condoms. Second, people are afraid (specifically youth) that if
they go to the hospital, family members or people they know in the community
will see them taking condoms. Thus, they have sex without condoms. As a result
of these factors, one of my first projects with the Red Cross was to tap into the
resources at the hospital and start a condom distribution campaign in Sefhare.
The condom distribution campaign
started in April. Part of the agreement between the Red Cross, the Primary
Hospital, and myself was that if we (the Red Cross and I) were going to
distribute condoms in Sefhare, the hospital wanted a record of where the
condoms were being used. Therefore, at the beginning of the month, each
institution was given a box of condoms and a record sheet to track the number
of condoms distributed. The record sheet tracked whether the person collecting
the condoms was male or female, youth or adult, and the number of condoms
collected. Condoms were packaged in newspaper in packets of six at the Red
Cross office. Condoms were distributed to eleven institutions around Sefhare. Most
were in areas of high community traffic flow, such as a local bar, the immigration
office, and the local Ministry of Parliament’s office. During the month of
April, I helped distributed 2,788 condoms to residents in the town of Sefhare.
Almost immediately, several
challenges presented themselves. First, there was the challenge of recording
the number of condoms distributed. At each institution the Red Cross visited, a
contact person was chosen to keep a record of the condoms that were being
taken. However, some institutions had trouble recording the number of condoms
taken. For example, about a week after the RC dropped the first box of condoms
to the Sefhare Land Board, the box was almost empty, yet only two people had
recorded the condoms they had taken. One reason for this was that the contact
person was often away from her desk and could not accurately track all of the
condoms being taken. A secondary reason was that people were uncomfortable
writing down themselves that they had taken condoms. This was resolved with a
conversation with several of the Land Board staff reinforcing the need to track
condoms for monitoring and evaluating purposes, and that if they continued to
not track condoms, the RC would not keep supplying. When the Land Board
received their second box, the number of condoms distributed was more
accurately tracked.
A second problem was
communication. When each institution was given their box, they were told to
call the Red Cross when a new box was needed. However, several institutions did
not call to request more condoms when they were out. For example, the Sefhare
Primary School went through their box of condoms within three days, yet no one
called to request a new box. A follow-up discussion was made with the
institutions that had difficulty calling to request new condoms, and the
responsibility of the contact person to call and request more condoms was
further emphasized.
The last problem (and biggest)
was transportation and supply. There were several institutions that distributed
condoms at a rapid rate, however RC supply was inadequate to keep up with the
demand. In addition, for most of April, the Red Cross combi did not have
petrol, and was unable to help pick up condoms from the hospital and transport
them to the different institutions. Furthermore, because of holiday breaks, the
combi was unavailable to assist in condom distribution and collection. These
problems persisted up until July, at which point I scheduled an appointment
with the hospital to resolve the transportation and supply problems.
To resolve the problems with
transportation and supply and communication, I approached the hospital with the
following solution: At the beginning of each month, one member from the Red
Cross will accompany the hospital car as it drives through Sefhare to drop off
condoms. The number of boxes of condoms dropped off at each institution will be
based on an estimated amount that the organization will go through during the
month. For example, the Immigration Office went through about four boxes of
condoms for the month. Therefore, at the beginning of the month four boxes of
condoms will be dropped off. This will cut down on transportation time to the
different institutions, as well as keep institutions supplied with condoms, so
they don’t need to constantly call RC.
In addition, an added benefit to
the hospital taking over transportation will ensure that the project remains
sustainable on both the hospital side and the Red Cross side. A sustainability
problem I had was that my Field Officer and counterpart in the project was
transferred to Gaborone, and therefore could not continue the project when I
was away for trainings and workshops. Thus, organizations did not receive
condoms for most of May, June and July. On the plus side, institutions we had
supplied with condoms kept calling and requested more condoms because the
demand for them was high. This let me know that condom distribution within Sefhare
was needed and people were using the condoms. Thus, in order to ensure
sustainability, the hospital will be in more control over the condom
distribution process by providing distribution of the condoms, while Red Cross
will be in charge of monitoring condom distribution. This will ensure that even
after I leave, the project will be sustainable, as I have trained Red Cross
members in tracking the numbers of condoms distributed in Sefhare.
The condom distribution campaign is
the first project in Sefhare that I carried out as part of my Peace Corps
service. I had helped on projects at the Red Cross before, but never had I
spearheaded one myself. I am proud of the impact that it has had on the
community and the direct effect it will have on promoting safer sex practices
for youth and adults of both genders. In future blog articles, I will post
results of the condom distribution campaign from different months so you can
all see the allocation of condom use in Sefhare.
