We spent the last two days visiting communities where we’ve implemented the Nehnwaa Project, which is a USAID-funded child survival grant. In fact, Nehnwaa literally means “child survival.”
What an amazing experience! Everyone in the community is so welcoming, and they are so grateful that we have come to visit. That we have come from so far away to meet them and ask about them and if what we are doing in their communities is helping means very much to them.
Getting to the villages is definitely a trial, however. The roads are barely more than paths through the rain forests. The road to one village had been flooded from the rains of the last couple of days, so we had to get out the vehicle and follow a makeshift path over a river to get to the village. Crossing the river on a log bridge was scary! (photo above)
I have so much respect for the Nehnwaa Project workers. They visit the communities every day, ensuring that they come to each community at least once a month. They are very respected in these communities, and they have definitely earned it. Lessons about water and sanitation, safe breastfeeding, pregnancy and delivery are taken to heart. The project workers have taken on a very serious responsibility to better the health of their countrymen. I am proud that I am getting to know them and seeing the work that they are accomplishing firsthand.
-Maria I. Hernandez
