Ray Suglo lives in Virgina with his wife and son, but he grew up in the small village of Ving Ving, where Literacy Bridge pilot tested 21 Talking Books. He has been generous enough to translate recordings from the village, including the interview with Nadowli Kuubataanono. When Ray heard what Nadowli had to say about the impact of Talking Books on health in Ving-Ving, which was similar to what he was hearing from his cousins and friends in Ving Ving, he sent me this email:
Growing up in Ving Ving, I was one of the few children who was able to attend school. When I reached secondary school I focused on agricultural studies. I came home with knowledge about new farming techniques that could be used to increase yield and told my family members about the techniques. I tried to teach them that burning the bush to clear the land for farming would deplete the land of nutrients. They told me that what I told them was not true, because they believed that the land was just going bad naturally and their parents had burned the land before them – it was just the way things were done. They refused to try the new techniques because they thought I was merely a child.
However, when people hear the same advice that I was taught in school, but they hear this advice from the TalkBook, they believe it. They have respect for the people they hear on the device and actually put the theories into practice. Now they are seeing how these simple changes to how they farm can actually increase their yield. By bringing agricultural information directly from the talkbook to the people, the theories are having a much stronger effect. The land is being used more efficiently and families are enjoying more food to eat and crops to sell. In the same way, a traditional birth attendant (TBA) in the village said that the talkbook is making the women of the village believers in her medicine. The women in the village were reluctant to believe her advice, but she says that now that they have listened to this device they are finally following her teachings. The women are having more healthy pregnancies, resulting in more healthy babies.
Thank you,
Ray P. Suglo.
Filed under: Ghana Pilot
