an Aha moment

A post I wrote for the Sustainable Cities blog.

I had an “aha” moment the other day.

I was having dinner with some new friends. The person who sat next to me was an American who worked with the department of social work at the University of Dar es Salaam. Among all the interesting differences she learnt about social work in the US and in Tanzania, one in particular stood out in her mind.

Government-provided social safety networks are practically non-existent in Dar es Salaam – the government simply doesn’t have the funding to provide extra support. While North American social workers often refer patients to appropriate social support networks, Tanzanian social workers have to rely on informal ones.

Due to the social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, often families will not care for the sick. Instead, Tanzanian social workers will take them to the “ten cell leader”, who cares for ten small groups of sick individuals. The end goal is to try to educate and convince the family to take the patient back into their care.

Then, the “aha” moment came.

To read the rest, please go to: http://blog.sustainablecities.net/2010/08/30/a-moment-of-clarity/