Nutrition Workshops

Nutrition Workshops:

The two day workshop in Bana was done in French.  A Nutrition Manuel was prepared in French, printed and ring bound for participants.  The Pyramid Model was used to classify foods, Energy Foods, Protective and Body Building Foods.  As basic as it may seem, participants were learning for the first time about basic food groups and their classification.  Oussematou laughed at Lydia’s clever ways to avoid having to speak a lot of French!  Lydia made a slide show of over 100 local foods.  A small picture of each food was placed on the pyramid when the group decided which food group it belonged to. Participants quickly learned to classify foods, putting palm oil, salt and biscuits as extras. 

 

 

 A number of very interesting learnings emerged.  The main diet consists of fufu (yellow corn pounded, mixed with water and steamed in banana leaf).  Fufu is dipped in a mixture of salt and palm oil (high in saturated fat).  Participants quickly decided that it was possible to balance meals by adding beans or ground nuts and a vegetable and or a fruit  to each meal.   In Bana, participants noted a disappearance of two important protein sources, ie lowered production of ground nuts (peanuts) and cow peas (looks like a white bean grown in a red peanut-like shell).  Both ground nuts and cow peas are excellent sources of complete protein.    One resolution by the participants at the end of the workshops in Bana was to encourage the reintroduction of ground nuts and cow peas. 

An action plan to use cassava leaf was made when it was discovered that this potentially abundant source of Vitamins A and C was not being used.  Oussematou worked with the cook at the Calipso Hotel to make a delicious dish using cassava leaves, squash, leeks and shrimp.  Since the participants had never had cassava leaf cooked before, they were very surprised to find it so delicious.  Huckleberry leaf is most often served as a vegetable but it is very expensive and difficult to get in dry season.  Mixed with dried fish it is like our dandelion greens, a great laxative! 

Only babies have milk.  Milk is unknown here.  We enjoy soya milk sold in different flavors but it is too expensive for the average person to buy here.  One thing Oussematou is going to do is contact a person who makes soya drink in her home and find out how.  Also, it was resolved to encourage increased use of soya beans in preparing local dishes (great source of calcium and complete protein).

Three nutritional related problems in the North West of Cameroon were targeted in the Nutrition Workshops:  Diabetes (they call it ‘getting sugar’), Hypertension and Nutrition Problems related to HIV AIDS.  In Bana, the Administrator of the Hospital who is not only a nurse but an excellent teacher addressed each diagram and explanation that we thankfully were able to project on the screen.  He elaborated on each problem.  The participants really appreciated learning for the first time the reasons behind each problem, factors that cannot be controlled, how the body is affected and how diet can be altered to help.  Lydia had been able, by taking pictures from slide shows from the internet, to make excellent power point presentations on each of the three major nutrition related problems in this country and translate the commentary into French via Google translator.

 

We were fortunate but had one unfortunate incident in Bana in relation to power outages.  IDF is always prepared for no power.  In fact, they plan on no power by using flip charts well prepared for animation.  Well, we had been able to use all the excellent power point programs that we had prepared as well as the utubes on Conservation Farming and excellent utube case studies of patient visit to homes in other parts of Africa were HIV AIDS.  But at one point, there was a power outage.  Hospital personal started up their generator.  IDF’s voltage regulator (we had bought and brought an identical voltage regulator for $70 Canadian) blew!  We know enough not to have our computers hooked up in such situations and have several batteries for each computer that we charge up when we are able to patch us through when the outages occur.  As I write this in Wum, we have been without power since 2pm yesterday and it is now 10 am so that is heading to a full day.  The day before in Wum was another stretch.  At 8 o’clock we went to bed as there was no power and Lydia did not to use the valuable computer battery power.  We awoke for the power to come on at 3am.  We had forgotten to turn off the single pigtail light hanging from the ceiling!

Role play of patient visits proved extremely effective.  These people are born actors!  The first patient-community volunteer portrayed a very serious confidentiality disclosure, the person being HIV positive.  The analysis of the reaction of the community volunteer was harsh.  This person was telling the community volunteer something very serious in confidence.  The community volunteer did not show compassion and did not make the person feel comfortable.  The second role play was equally effectively.  Although the community volunteer showed some compassion initially, a patient check list intended as a guide was used as a question by question cold fact response tool.  By the time the group lead by the hospital administrator/nurse and Oussematou, the participants had a much clearer view of how to approach a home visit.  Clearly compassion, confidentially, trust, understanding, security are upmost in visitation.  Red flags situations that require recommendation to go to the medical clinic for immediate assessment and care were discussed.  Really, in the time we had, training could just be introduced. 

The last hour of each day in Bana was devoted to making Sea Heart for Hope chains and earrings.  Everyone participated and was delighted with the results which they were able to keep. 

A second Nutrition Workshop was held in Bamenda at IDF and a small one along with the Farm Field School in Befang.  Three participants travelled from Wum and five from Kumbo to Bamenda for that workshop.  To travel, each of these participants spent six plus hours riding on bad roads to attend.  Having travelled the road from Bamenda to Wum on Sunday, we were appalled by the deterioration of the road.  In fact, it should not be called a road.  It is beyond a road grader.  It needs total rebuilding.  We were very fortunate.  A large truck came up behind us and indicated for us to pull over.  They pointed out to us that we were trailing a stream of fuel.  Our driver had a look at it and he and Allan decided to do our best to go as fast as possible to Wum hoping every kilometer not to breakdown.  Fortunately, the car is a diesel so we were not in danger of fire.  The road is all but impassable by car.  Each area has to be approached so carefully.  If it were to rain, vehicles have to be pushed through deep water and heavy mud ruts.  The road is impassable to cars when it rains.  Large truck break up the road and heavy rains wash areas of the road away as well as bringing down debris from the steep cliffs.  They say government will not consider this a priority until the road is totally impassable.  To us, that is right now.  They say that government decisions are to be made more regionally soon and this will help the decision to address the problem of the roads in North West Cameroon, at the moment and for quite some time, totally neglected!  We were relieved to arrive in Wum and are now back in Bamenda, leaving for Bana tomorrow for wrap up there, then on to Limbe.  What great experiences we are having.  Such richness of culture make all the inconveniences worth it!

Lydia 

 

 

 

Participants were fascinated to discover that one could have an influence on ones weight through diet.