Impact of the Intervention in Bolae
UPDATE ON BOLAE*
This program is a partnership between Network Beyond, MAI, and CVH, a local organization in the community.
by Tirus Githaka, Regional Coordinator, East Africa
“Model families have demonstrated a number of positive traits, including keeping their homes clean, constructing and maintaining pit latrines, maintaining good relationships with their neighbors, keeping themselves and their family members clean, keeping their surroundings clean, separating their shelter from that of their animals, regularly getting vaccinated, and working closely with health extension workers.”
“Acceptance of the health extension workers in the community also increased over the past five years. Previous reports of community members letting their dogs loose on the health extension workers have significantly diminished and more doors are being opened for health services, prayer and sharing of the Gospel.” -comment made by a community leader.
The Bolae* region is a remote area in Africa. Bolae region hosts three unreached communities and a small evangelical population. Being an outsider poses a challenge since strangers are not readily welcomed. Outsiders are easy to spot since the community members all know each other. Becoming a Christian here means being quickly ostracized and forced out of the community and, therefore, conversions are rare. Five years ago, we sought to develop an integrated ministry in Bolae dealing with both physical and spiritual needs of the community. However, the government of this country has strict policies against NGOs (non-governmental organizations) participating in spiritual work and against faith-based organizations participating in development work. Therefore, integration of physical and spiritual ministry is a challenge due to the government guidelines.
The strict control of local NGOs by local government also proved a challenge since the government staff who are from other faiths monitor activities of NGOs. Any attempt at conversion would be reported to the local spiritual leaders, who would call on their followers to resist the new program as well as push for the NGO to be expelled from the region. Having desired to start a program in the area, we sought assistance from Mohas*, a convert from one of the unreached people groups. We, however, encountered another challenge. We noted that in some situations people who had initially become believers from some unreached communities would act as gatekeepers in their communities and would block evangelism efforts by other organizations unless they were paid or appointed to lead the efforts. These individuals are also quite busy since any organization wishing to start an outreach in the region seeks to connect with them. When we couldn’t come to a consensus with Mohas about how to start and develop the program, he stepped away and we were left stranded.
It took another two years before we could embark on another venture to the area. In 2017 we were introduced to an NGO willing to work in the region. This NGO had been registered by a church and was interested in both physical and spiritual change in the community. In the follow-up plan five individuals (one of whom is a nurse) would be recruited from the community and be trained as health extension workers. These five individuals should be born again, have completed their high school education, be fluent in the local language dialects, reside in the neighborhood and have some basic health training. To ensure their desire for evangelism as well as the integration of both physical and spiritual ministry, the local churches were involved in their selection and vetting. The team was trained in the government health extension workers’ curriculum. This training included modules in First Aid, safe childbirth, water purification, diagnosis and treatment of intestinal parasites, diarrhea, malaria and tuberculosis (TB), among other lessons.
Through lessons from CHE (Community Health Evangelism) they were also trained in evangelism and outreach to people of different faiths. The role of health extension worker included conducting home visits and providing health outreach services to encourage disease prevention within the community. The five health extension workers also referred patients to health centers and conducted follow up on referrals. The health nurse provided other services including vaccination and family planning services at the health outpost. After their training, the local government allocated about 400 homes to each worker to visit and teach on community health. That was five years ago. This year, during the five-year evaluation of their activities, the following results have been achieved and we can only thank God for them. In total, over 2000 homes have been visited and different health lessons taught. Evangelism and discipleship have also been done with varying results.
Impact of the Intervention
There was noted improvement in sanitation in the communities allocated to the health workers. The percentage of homes with access to sanitation significantly increased with the construction of 450 new toilets, 340 new bathing spaces and the digging of 630 new rubbish pits in the households that received training. Use of pit latrines, construction of separate animal houses, water purification and increased uptake of family planning services are other changes seen in the community. Vaccine coverage also increased considerably in the areas where health extension workers were stationed with a much higher percentage of kids having received the DPT, measles, polio, and tuberculosis vaccines. Overall, there was an increase of over 2400 children in the community having received and completed their vaccination schedules. During the period, 2600 mothers were trained in nutrition, and 3100 students were given education on HIV/AIDS through school health clubs. Forty-two hundred households were trained in malaria prevention, and their houses sprayed with insecticides to reduce the spread of malaria. The spiritual ministry also grew when over 3400 members with a cultic Christian background heard the Gospel, and ten persons gave their lives to Christ. On the other hand, 4300 persons from two unreached people groups were presented with the message of the Gospel, and 13 persons gave their lives to Christ. The health extension workers also trained individuals in establishing kitchen gardens for nutritional needs. Fifty young people were trained in business skills to alleviate unemployment. This program continues to the next level of development, and more people are being reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“They are persuading the neighborhood to make changes. They are instructing the neighborhood. We previously experienced a variety of illnesses. We are currently discovering how to prevent diseases, so there are no epidemics. We have set up pit latrines and separated the animal shed from our shelter to keep our kids clean. As a result, we don’t have eye conditions or diarrhea. We do not smoke, and we keep the kitchen and the bedroom apart.” -further comments from the community leader.
*Names are fictitious, for the sake of security.
