Juana Rosa Ruiz, Facilitator

Juana Rosa Ruiz (first from the left) with brigadistas from her community displaying information about the Aedes life cycle.

For me, the most important change brought on by SEPA has been the bond and the relationship developed with humble people from the neighbourhoods. I come from a neighbourhood where people express themselves very sincerely and, above all, I’m surprised by people’s willingness to support their own community.

I have also become involved with community leaders with different characters and ways of thinking, and have learned a lot from them. I have seen their emotional reactions when facing a problem and how they solve it. This has helped me to better apply my knowledge and improve my own approach in my neighbourhood.

In one of our neighbourhoods, the most important change I have observed is the population’s appreciation for each of the people who make up the SEPA brigade (made up mostly of children and teenagers). They have taken information about dengue straight to the households and now the leaders have directly involved themselves in the brigade.

In another one of our neighbourhoods, the SEPA brigade is made up mostly of women: there are 18 women and 3 men. They are enterprising, generous and enthusiastic women, willing to give  their all for the well-being of their community. The most important change here has been their empowerment through the knowledge they have acquired and spread to the households they visit.