Shadowing the public health team

Last week I got to spend a day shadowing the Africa Mercy public health team as they went into the field. They have been going to a local village named Soss Town to teach about public health to leaders of the community. The idea is that these students will go back to their respective villages and implement the recommendations and teachings they learned in class. It was a good experience. We opened the day with prayer and some worship singing, and then the educators talked about safe village practices. They stressed the importance of hanging clothes on lines instead of the ground, wearing shoes, clearing brush and weeds, keeping animals in pens, building latrines, etc. The students were such avid learners and were engaged by the lesson. It's amazing how such simple changes can have such an impact on the health of the community. After class we all got to enjoy lunch together. We had one of my favorite African dishes - cassava leaves and rice.