Dear Friends,
These 2 weeks, we have been training 3 mothers as health ambassadors for their neighbourhood. Their homes are within 3 different housing blocks, and each was tasked to inform those who lived in their block about available medical resources and activities that promoted their wellbeing.
Health in 5 or Hi-5! is how we have packaged 5 ways to live healthy and it covers Eating Healthy, Exercising Regularly, Having Friends, Mental Health as well as Health Check-ups and Jabs. Between them, these mothers have 16 children and for 2 of them with younger children, caregiving takes up most of their day. Hence, the opportunity to do something they find purposeful and enjoyable, was an opportunity they embraced.
Homemakers in low-income neighbourhoods have always worked from home, albeit not in the technology enabled way we know it today. Because of their heavy care-giving responsibilities, taking on work they could complete during their free time was one way they earned an income. They did not have to commute to work but the work came to them and when completed, it was collected from them. These jobs included packing, sorting, labelling, simple sewing, and such.
Distance, commuting time, and fixed working hours hinder many homemakers from joining the workforce and so as an agency that strives to develop the capabilities and capacities of low-income communities, involving its members in our work and compensating them fairly is an investment for positive change.
Whenever these members are deployed in the neighbourhoods where they reside, there is a positive spill over effect of stronger neighbour to neighbour ties which makes work efficient and communication authentic. One feedback one of our newly appointed health ambassadors received was, “Not enough to eat ok, why talk about healthy eating?”
We discussed this feedback as a team and agreed that acknowledging and appreciating the reality of where the feedback was coming from was critical. After which, we may ask the person giving the feedback if he or she would be willing to hear us out and if not, keep the conversation cordial and shift to other aspects of living healthy. This keeps neighbourly ties positive and contributes to social and mental well-being.
A healthy meal is where wholegrains and good protein take up half a plate in equal amounts and the other half filled with vegetables and fruits. Understandably, this advice is difficult to follow because of cultural norms. In an Asian home, rice is dished out freely at a dinner table and even when we receive a packed meal in a bento box, rice fills the biggest compartment.
After thinking through how they could speak about healthy eating, our health ambassadors decided that they should still mention this but to focus more on helping their neighbours understand the ill effects of too much sugar and salt in their diet which contribute respectively to diabetes and hypertension, chronic diseases prevalent in their community.  They suspected that for many of their neighbours, a conversation about health was one around disease management and prevention, and that is where they should begin.
Our health ambassadors are experiencing much work satisfaction but perhaps the biggest benefit in taking on the role is the unspoken expectation to walk their talk. Admittedly, all 3 shared that they simply pressed on with their caregiving responsibilities without thinking about their own health. This appointment has given them pause to reflect if they are also looking after themselves. After all, if they fall seriously ill, they would not be able to fulfil their caregiving responsibilities. For all 3 mothers, this was a sobering thought.
For peace, community, and health,
Gerard
The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all.” ― Aung San Suu Kyi
