PhotoVoice Training - Day 2

After spending the night violently ill and unsure if I was going to be able to conduct the training today, I managed to drag myself from bed and proceed as planned. 

Today we discussed about associating words and feelings with photos and did several critical thinking exercises. First, we did a word association with “health care” using sticky notes on the flip chart and then grouping in categories. There are definitely some in the group that found it challenging to think in this manner, but a few that jumped up and started moving the sticky notes around where they thought they belonged. The language barrier and dynamics of working with a translator add another layer of complexity.

For the “Found Photographs” exercise the women were split into two groups and they each had 10 photos to view. I said a word – like “angry” – and they had to choose together which photo best represented the word. They really enjoyed the exercise, but the pictures were too obviously associated with one specific word and this made it a bit simplistic and did not really accomplish what I was hoping to convey. I would definitely choose more complex and ambiguous photos in the future.

Lastly the women put together a variation of a mindmap where the research question was in the middle of a large piece of paper – “What are the barriers to getting health care?” The women then had to write three or four answers to that question and then think of ideas for one or two pictures that they could take to express their answer. This was understandably difficult and I acknowledged that it was okay of they couldn’t think of anything today. I walked around the room and tried to get them to think a little deeper. Many of them just said, “Lack of money” or “medication too expensive”, and I tried to get them to think of other or more specific ideas. This was a challenging exercise again made more complex by the language barrier. I began to get concerned that we would have 10 photographs of medicine bottles and kwacha.

So I had an impromptu “flipboard” discussion of:

• Where do you go when you are sick?
• Why don’t you get care when you are sick?
• What do you like about health care in Mansa?
• When do you seek health care?

This was very helpful for me to understand and it sparked a lively discussion (I asked each person to answer each question and then wrote it down on the flip chart). I think it also may have helped them think of “barriers” through a different perspective and realize health care is more than just the hospital and clinic. They asked for the list that was created through this exercise and thankfully our wireless portable printer is a champ and I was able to type up and print after the session as over.

An adorable petite woman named Precious made up a little song for me (at least I think she made it up) that they all sang/clapped together. It had something to do with being a graduate student and “you can” - basically meaning “you can do it!” The women here are so awesome!