They learn not to make fun of people who are disabled and to appreciate their many strengths. PROJIMO’s “playground for all children” and toy-making workshop also encourage friendships and respect. As with any long-term project, Piaxtla and PROJIMO have taken many unanticipated directions. Yet, their focus on community education and political empowerment ensures that they will continue to help villagers meet their own needs. When most international development aid is still squandered on short-term approaches and projects that foster dependency, the Ajoya programs provide a clear example of effective, low-cost, community-run development. Above: To make it easier to remember internal body parts, they are drawn onto a student’s chest or t-shirt. Helping Health Workers Learn: A book of methods, aids & ideas for instructors at the village level. By David Werner & Bill Bower. (Feb 1991) What makes a good health worker? What helps students remember lessons? What useful teaching aids are available in remote areas? The authors find that the most effective health workers come from the village they serve, make use of local resources, and see medical solutions as only one of many ways to improve community health. It describes a people-centered approach to inexpensive, fun, interactive, hands-on health learning. It explores how to teach whole villages about health, how to encourage community organizing, how to listen to people and how to learn from their customs. Many of the book’s low-cost teaching aids are easily duplicated in remote areas. The simple and realistic cardboard birthing box teaches students what to expect during childbirth. The use of gourds shaped somewhat like babies, with faces on them, helps teach the principles of rehydration in the treatment of diarrhea. A comprehensive basic health education plan (selecting health workers, preparing for a class), building class benches, learning to take and use pictures, story-telling, role playing, learning to use medicine sensibly, learning to use the companion guide Where There Is No Doctor, activities with mothers and children, and health in relation to food, land and social problems are just some of the topics. The concise language and hundreds of pictures make these health education tools readily available to just about anyone with basic reading skills. 640 pages. $14.00 postpaid. ONE OF THE HARDEST SVTUATIOHS 1 HAVE \ TO HANDLE IS WHEN A MOTHER BRINSS 1 IN HER CHILD WtTH A COLD AND INSISTS 1 1N3ECT HIM. I TRY TO EXPLAIN THAT IT WON'T DO ANY SOOD AND MAY HARM HIM. BUT THE MOTHER THINKS t CJUST DON’T CARE ENOUSH ABOUT HER CHILD. I TRY MY BESTj BUT 1 FEEL I LOSE THE TRUST OF A LOT OF MOTHERS. J BUT I BET YOU WIN THE TRUST or A LOT OF CHILDREN ! Where There Is No Doctor: a village health care handbook By David Werner. (Revised Edition, May 1992) This health manual was initially written to serve the needs of the villager-run healthcare clinic in Ajoya, Mexico. At the time, there was no simple reference book which avoided difficult medical language and used familiar village scenes. For many Third World health workers, pharmacists, teachers and midwives in villages around the world, this book has become the basic curative and preventative health care reference. The basic healthcare information in the many editions of this book have withstood years of rigorous field testing. This latest edition includes new information about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, women’s health care, improved homemade oral rehydration drinks made with local cereals, snakebite treatment and other new medical treatments. New sections on “kangarooing”, blood pressure measurement, latrine building, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, circumcision, removing earwax. In the absence of an incubator, underweight and premature babies can be kept warm through “kangarooing. ” RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3 Page 17
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