My Blog

First Thursday August conversations - part 1 - health, Internet, Open Source, children August 8, 2010

Now for the lively conversations: items 7-12 below. I’ve marked the start of each section clearly and numbered them,  so you should be able to scroll down fairly easily to whatever most interests you. It had to be done as several posts because of the length.

The previous post gives background details to the conversations - items 1-6 on the list

The next post gives the final conversations -  items 13-15

but Item 11  Delayed Replies About Orphans and About Open Source  had to be posted separately (sorry about that)

  1. People
  2. Apologies
  3. Techie Glitches
  4. The Skype Problem and Workarounds
  5. Feedback Request
  6. Introducing the Conversations (which covered the following):
  7. Roles at Fantsuam
  8. Health
  9. Computers, Internet and Fantsuam Foundation (FF) Services  - including vulnerable children
  10. Open Source
  11. Delayed Replies About Orphans and About Open Source
  12. Observations on Typed Chat Versus Audio
  13.  Edi and Pamela Tidying up Some Loose Ends
  14. How Can Individuals Make a Difference? - Some Practicalities
  15. End note - how to connect with us if you want to get involved

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6 - Introducing the Conversations

Several conversations overlapped each other, and there was much in the way of general greetings and people getting to know each other (which I have omitted).I have picked out the key themes and quotes to make it easier to you to see what was covered and slightly re-ordered the comments for clarity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7 - Roles at Fantsuam

Edi Jerry

  • I work with Fantsuam Foundation in the HIV/AIDS department

Chollom

  • I am Chollom and I work with ZittNet which is the IT department of Fantsuam. I serve as the network administrator (Editors note - more about Zittnet )

Elaine Hickey

  • So Chollom and Kelechi both work primarily on the Zittnet project and technical side of things and Edi works with the HIV /AIDS dept. Is that correct ?

Edi Jerry

  • very correct Elaine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8 - Health

Edi Jerry:

  • The HIV/AIDS Dept of Fantsuam provides services such as HIV counselling and testing, OVC services, Home Based Care for HIV pisitive clients, regular monthly support group meetings of persons living with HIV
  • We train community volunteers to identify and refer TB suspects within their local communities to nearest DOTS centers
  • Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse - DOTS, ie where TB drugs are given to clients free
  • we also rescue, link to care and shelter negatively labelled children

nikki fishman

  • I heard of my first TB case only yesterday a friend's husband has it still pretty rare in the UK but growing numbers
  • I trained as a paediatric and general nurse so health and welfare are subjects close to my heart

Edi Jerry

  • Tuberculosis is very common here
  • as it is one of the most common opportunistic infections associated with HIV infection
  • unfortunately, Kafanchan as a rural community has about the highest prevalence of HIV infection in Nigeria
  • so it is a huge problem around here

nikki fishman

  • ah that is interesting I hadn't apreciated this link
  • How many people are you able to help each year?
  • of course you help one client but by doing so help so many others such as their family members
  • What do you see as the best way for you to tackle this problem?

Edi Jerry

  • about three months ago, it used to be an average of 50 clients per month
  • however, we are now having figures of over a hundred per month

Elaine Hickey

  • How many people work in the Dept ?

nikki fishman

  • Is this because the problem is growing or is it because more people are hearing of about what FF can do to help?

Edi Jerry

  • It is basically because of dearth of test kits
  • we now have many CBOs (Community Based Organisations) making referrals to us
  • it is also because of the success of our agressive HIV awarenes within local communities over time

nikki fishman

  • Once someone has tested positive do you offer conselling and treatment...how well are you resourced...I know that this is an ongoing battle for John and Fantsuam

Edi Jerry

  • we actually counsel before and after test

Nikki fishman

  • yes conselling before is important

Edi Jerry

  • and make referral to facilities we work closely with for treatment- ie to access ARVs
  • Fantsuam is a community based non govt organization which strives to fight poverty and disadvantage amongst rural people with integrated development programs

Elaine Hickey

  • I think there is a lot of interest in Edi's work as maybe we hadn't heard or don't know too much about it to date. Perhaps we can continue to discuss this first and what the Fantsuam team need from us to help support this work
  • In relation to HIV/Aids dept. I can try to look at fundraising options, forging links with Rotary. I also previously volunteered for a charity in the UK who look at the impact of nutrition and HIV. I suppose one of the main issues is preventing people from getting a secondary illness such as TB.
  • http://www.foodchain.org.uk/ - link to the UK charity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9 - Computers, Internet and Fantsuam Foundation (FF) services - including vulnerable children

Chollom

  • ZittNet is the first rural ISP in Nigeria and ZittNet provides internet services to the different depts in Fantsuam and a sizable client base within Kafanchan, Recently, we added a first client to our network form outside Kafanchan

Edi Jerry

  • Fantsuam plans to set up a computer center at the orphanage where we our rescued children are sheltered
  • We also plan to set up a DOTS center so TB drugs are brought closer to the rural community

Elaine Hickey

  • Edi, what would be helpful would be a breakdown of the services Fantsuam provide. Chollum & Kelechi - I would guess that you are involved in the setup of the computer center

Edi Jerry

  • we have been making referrals to DOTS centers and clients within the community who are economically challenged are not able to make to such centers

nikki fishman

  • yes the computer center at the orphnage which had @ 25 children (I think you said yesterday  Edi) would help give these children better prospects some of whom we learned yeterday are victims of being acused of witchcraft

Edi Jerry

  • the figure of 25 orphans is correct
  • Fantsuam provides the following services: Health- HIV/AIDS, reproductive health; Mirco credit to the disadvantegd, especially women; computer training and internet service provision to rural communities for development

nikki fishman

Kelechi B.G. Micheals

  • all hands on deck, Bala, chollom and Cicely.

Elaine Hickey

  • Ok, I should be able to look up some of what you do. In relation to Rotary one of their aims is disease prevention so we can look to partner with them on some projects. There is also a specific group set up to combat the spread of AIDS - http://www.rffa.org/ . Pamela previously spoke to me about designing a document to capture project activity. I will look at getting this completed so we all have a better idea as to what we should be promoting on the website and how we should be approaching other organisations

Pamela

  • we have made some progress on that with Andy. Let us discuss in detail over the weekend so all our thougths and efforts are together.

Edi Jerry

  • Fantsuam also provides trining in volunteerism to rural communities

nikki fishman

  • Edi does the orphanage have a computer at the moment?

Edi Jerry

  • it has one
  • which hardly functions because of lack of power supply

Pamela

  • do they just rely on NEPA (grid electirty)

Edi Jerry

  • they do rely on NEPA which is hardly available

nikki fishman

  • and does  it get connectivity from Zittnett?

Edi Jerry

  • no it doesnt for now, but can if resources are available

nikki fishman

  • what ideally would you hope to do for them?

Pamela

  • what is the computer? is it one of the the refurbished ones from Fantsuam?

Elaine Hickey

  • ok so at the moment you have one computer sited at the orphanage but the connection is not very reliable. Do you hope to get this connected into Zittnet ? and also extend the number of computers ? When it is working what is the computer used for ? Also, Pamela mentioned Open Source all of you would be working with Open Source
  • Edi I will look at the website to get a better idea of all of the work you are doing but you provided a very good overview here - thank you.

(Editor's note - see 11 - Delayed Replies About Orphans and About Open Source - for more replies)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 - OpenSource

Elaine Hickey

  • One of the titles Pamela gave me was resource hunter - what challenges do you have in relation to Open Source ? Edi, Chollum & Kelechi ? Is it hard to obtain software updates for software you are using ? Also difficult to access the support forums ? What would help you in relation to Open Source ?
  • Chollum & Kelechi - was the cd I sent previously with network monitoring tools of any use ? I think you sometimes have problems with network traffic and also maybe intrusions ?

nikki fishman

  • yes Elaine I understand that this was certainly a recent problem at FF

(Editor's note - see 11 - Delayed Replies About Orphans and About Open Source - for more replies)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11 - Delayed Replies About Orphans and About Open Source -  is here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 - Observations on Typed Chat Versus Audio

After the main session was over there were some small group chats

  • Franz , Niiki and I discussed issues around using typed chat versus audio. There is not enough bandwidth for audio between UK and Nigeria . However we are accustomed to all our chats being typed and we find it has many benefits. Franz has also found benefits with typed chats, including the fact that they provide evidence. He’d found that useful for the Austrian National Agency about his January workshop, He also appreciated the way you can leave it open and use it a-synchronously.
  • Franz, Juius and I had a short audio chat - until Franz’s laptop ran out of power.
  • Franz and I, and Phil and I also had short individual link ups using video. Phil’s was early on, just while he was trying to find out about the link. Franz’s was more leisurely - people on both sides being introduced to each other, and some views of his present surroundings.

The next post gives the final conversations -  items 13-15