The last week has been incredibly busy! I spent a lot of time on the research proposal, but we ran into some programmatic issues. The research we’re doing (me and another intern) looks at incorporating storytelling into the current Care Group model; although, we found upon further investigation that the Nehnwaa communities in the project adapted the model based on what they thought was important. Somehow, communities prefer to teach everyone at the same time, which defeats the purpose of the cascade effect by eliminating 1:1 household education. Also, they are already using stories! If a family isn’t understanding the first time, groups go to the houses and use dramas to explain it a different way. For the purpose of changing behavior, I love it because it means a)our research is useful, because it will prove it on a scientific level and b)that behavior change is progressing and more likely! BUT for the purpose of this research, it means we can’t have a control group because everyone already uses stories.

Luckily, the project just added 15 new communities that haven’t started using Care Groups yet. But that also means more work, because now we’ve been recruited to train the staff on the right way to use Care Groups, as well as help standardize training for the Community Health Volunteers AND the Care Group volunteers in the new communities. Not to mention, we still have to develop the original survey as planned, work with some officers to develop the best kinds of stories, and be able to argue the project in a final paper. Sweet, haha. It doesn’t even bother me, really, because I am learning so much from all of it and I feel super productive.

I did get to visit a community this week, which is always fun. The best part of this work is when I get to see the difference it makes, particularly when I get to meet the people we serve. As usual, I found lots of kids to play with and take pictures of while the staff conducting interviews with beneficiaries. As much as I would like to, I don’t speak Mano (the local language), so while the first couple are interesting, it just starts to frustrate me that I can’t understand them.