After a good night’s sleep to combat the jetlag, the AISHA team woke up bright and early for some breakfast before heading out to their workspace at the World Hope International Office once again. The team separated themselves to regroup, and make a to-do list for the day where they proceeded to delegate the tasks for the day. When the meeting was over the team sprang into action, working diligently on the project. The budget was reassessed to allocate more money towards a portable hotspot device, about 200 photos from yesterday’s excursion to Makump Bana Community Health Post (CHP) were uploaded to a shared folder, and the previous blog post was edited and uploaded. The contract written for a future translator was sent out for approval, so the team can print it at a moment’s notice.
Two of our team members left with Jawara, our local guide informant and a longtime friend of Khanjan, to purchase a portable hotspot device, while the others stayed back to continue working. At 10:00am, our team’s PI, Khanjan Mehta sent us a list of other CHPs and Peripheral Health Units (PHU), potential community health focuses, and other potential organizations and health centers to visit. Our goal is to find the most suitable location and people to use our devices, and maximize the amount of knowledge given.
The team was vigorously working away, when they were made aware of a local vender who was selling coconuts. Most of the team rushed outside to purchase some refreshing and delicious coconuts as a midmorning snack. After that, the team got back to work organizing our photos, Google Drive, and Google Calendar so they could keep working as efficiently as possible. Our team members returned with Jawara to World Hope because they didn’t bring enough money for the device. There was much deliberation over which mobile hotspot to get, so we decided to ask our PI. Purchasing the hotspot would eat up almost 75% of the team’s budget for their time in Sierra Leone, but the team decided to go back to the store to ask about their return and exchange policy if they weren’t happy with their decision. Before they arrived back to the store, Khanjan had given them the go ahead to purchase the best device they sold at the store and relayed that additional funding would be added to our budget.
The team pressed on, gathering data from the photos collected, and creating an Alexa instruction manual for AISHA. At this point another vendor had stopped by, where the team purchased a lunchtime snack of fish empanadas. All of the bugs with the Alexa device were fixed, and the team became whole again when they returned with Jawara and a new portable hotspot device. The team then huddled together to think of a better approach to introducing our Alexa device to Community Health Workers (CHW) when their PI messaged them to go back to Makump Bana CHP. The team met with the CHW worker Mabinty yesterday, and asked whether or not she was aware that the team would be returning, since they required the use of a power source located in her bedroom. Khanjan reached out to Mabinty, and while waiting for a response from her, the team got back to work on the Alexa demo approach. The team decided to prioritize the comfort of CHW and to try to build a relationship with health staff, over a high quantity of results.
The team never received a response from Mabinty, and was instructed to have a few members from their team along with two other teams show up unannounced. When we arrived, the doors to the PHU were closed, and Mabinty went into the PHU to start to clean it for our arrival. The three AISHA team members approached Mabinty alone and asked if she was comfortable with us coming inside and if it was a good time for her. She told the team it was not a good time and asked us to return another time. The team left with the two other teams and headed to the supermarket for some snacks. After dinner the team ended their day by redoing our website, to make it presentable for stakeholders.
Team Highlights
Omar → Going to the market to get the hotspot device and testing it out. The results were great, and it relieved a lot of stress.
Sofía → Trying a new food (meat pie) and creating a project approach focused on CHW comfort.
Eric → Dinner at the restaurant tonight, and the greens they served.
Aabi → Talking to different internet service providers and deciding what would be the best provider for the team’s hotspot, as well as searching for the right device for our team.
Elif → Going to the supermarket and seeing the various products they had.
Zavier → Drinking from a coconut for the first time.
Rachel → Meeting the people outside the supermarket selling fruit and seeing the community as we drove by.
Average rating of the team’s day: 2.04/5