Guest blog by Chiran Livera, a Canadian Red Cross delegate who is currently based in Kenya where he oversees the humanitarian operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies throughout the continent. His latest field assignment was managing the cholera outbreak in South Sudan.
A unique drama club has formed in Juba. A group of five Red Cross friends travel the city and perform open street shows to help spread messages on cholera prevention.
I recently had the opportunity to spend a day driving around with two individuals who lead this group, Sabri and Ezibon. As they planned their day at the South Sudan Red Cross office, it was great to see how the group’s long friendship made them natural partners. The day was just beginning and their enthusiasm and energy were high as they talked about how they were going to perform.
Ezibon believes that young people are great multipliers of cholera prevention messaging. He has been with the Red Cross since he was young and experienced how impactful youth are as peer educators. As they went over their act, I had no doubt this was going to be an entertaining day.
When we arrived at the first school, the students were buzzing with energy. As it would happen in Canada, bringing together more than 200 elementary school students into the courtyard and keeping their attention focused is no easy task.
Ezibon and his team began the performance with an interactive scene about a boy who comes home from school and starts to drink unclean water. Quickly his friends enter the scene and ask him why he’s doing this and doesn’t he know about the dangers of drinking unclean water. The performance continues for the next 10
minutes with the interaction, often comedic, of the group of friends discussing the dangers of cholera and why it’s important to practice good sanitation and hygiene behavior. The school students were very engaged and often yelled out answers to questions and tried to join in. Ezibon’s performance was very effective.
After the performance, many students approached Ezibon and the team and wanted to say hello and shake their hand.
As we drove to our next school, Ezibon explained to me why what he is doing is important. In a country like South Sudan where stories are used more than writing, using drama performances to get messages across is universal. Even people who are not listening can understand the message, and because of comedic elements woven in, the audience quickly becomes participants in the learning process.
The Red Cross has gone back to several of the communities where they have been disseminating information about cholera prevention to ask people how they found out about cholera prevention. It is not surprising when communities reveal that the drama group Ezibon and his friends organize is one of the main ways people understand cholera and how to prevent it.
It looks like some of those young kids who came up to Ezibon after the performance have become mini-ambassadors spreading positive messages.
South Sudan has been dealing with a cholera outbreak since May, 2014. As of August 8, 2014, a total of 5, 647 cholera cases had been reported. The main risk factors responsible for the spread of cholera in South Sudan include drinking unsafe water, poor sanitary conditions and lack of latrines and hand-washing facilities which makes it challenging to maintain good hygiene practices at the community level. The South Sudan Red Cross is scaling up its response to the cholera outbreak by building on its core strength of social mobilization to address cholera prevention and hygiene promotion. This includes household level water treatment and other water and sanitation activities, including hygiene promotion.
Click here to learn about how the Canadian Red Cross is supporting communities in South Sudan.