Respect for Traditions
There is no doubt that if the facilitators trained to use the Self Assessment tool have been so well received by the communities, if they could easily convince the local drama groups to forward messages about malaria, it is because they always showed the greatest respect for local traditions.
A village head told us about this matter, “The Malaria Competence process has not been imposed on us. The NSGA and National Malaria Control Programme people started visiting us, the heads. They asked what we would like to know about malaria. Then they explained what they wanted to do. We agreed immediately.”
Abu Carr Sisawo, Lamin Fatty, Yancouba Bojang, Souleiman Manneh and the other facilitators take great care to listen to the communities, to get to know their traditions and taboos. For example, none of them would think of saying, “Don’t go any longer to the marabout.” Marabouts are part of life, everyone consults them before a journey, a marriage, an exam or for the success of a commercial deal . “We only show people,” explains Abu Carr Sisawo, “that, as they can see themselves, the marabout does not cure malaria, and that the nurse, at the Health Centre, does cure it.”
Here is another example, this time about HIV/AIDS. In a community, it is not proper to talk about sex before the elders. In another community, during a screening, it would be improper to play music at a too high level. “We must greatly respect communities. We must be close to them and at the same time know our place. We must - always - allow them to take ownership of their destiny considering malaria. Self Assessment is of great help in these matters. It is a tool for discussion and negotiation.”