Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Give her first health talk

One of my posters of the different paths to getting germs inside the body



Today I gave my first health talk and it last a lil over an hour and the topic was hygiene – the different ways germs are spread and how to block them. I gave the talk in my home village, Erata, and surprisingly all the mamas and papas showed up and we started on time (730am). I’m sure their enthusiasm is due to attendance being a requirement of the health program but I with more things in life we need a reward to be motivated.

I started the talk with a quick game, which I had learned in training. Each person receives a piece of paper with a stick figure in green and 1 person has picture of figure in red and 2 have a picture of soap. After everyone goes around and shakes hands with 3 people. Then the person with the red figure comes into the center of the circle and I explain that this person has the flu and they had spit into their hand before walking around. I ask then who shook hands with this particular man because now they too have the flu and should come into the center of the circle. I repeat this again till almost everyone is now in the center of the circle but the 2 with the picture of the soap which had washed their hands and didn’t get the flu. It was a good game to play to get them awake and moving and show that germs spread quickly and when one person is sick it’s not long until another and another and then the whole village is sick.

The rest of the talk went just as good and everyone was attentive and seemed to nod in understanding. At the end we had some good discussions. Like about lice and if they were germs (I answered – not exactly but they spread just as easily) and another question came up if it was okay if the mamas continue to pick lice out of the kid’s hair and stick the lice in the mouths to kill them (my answer was that the stomach will kill the lice but I doubted that they tasted good).

Next week Monday through Thursday I’ll give the same talk each morning in a different village. I decided to do it that way instead of just one big one because it would be more convenient for the parents who have lots of work to do in the garden and preparing lunch for their kids in school (the mom’s carry hot food every day at 1130am to the school located a the middle of the island). Plus this gives families an opportunity if they miss the talk in their own village they can come to another and catch it.

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