So, it's 5pm and I'm bundled up in the comfort of my bed with my two cats snuggled up beside me. I'm responding to emails, contemplating leaving the warmth of my blankets to wash my dishes and take my blankets down from the clothes line, and waiting for some of the girls to stop by to hang out.
I really haven't done that much today...woke up at 8am, went to the center of town to buy some toothbrushes for today's health lesson with the kids, ran into some women in the fields on my way to the hanut (general store), held a 2 hour health lesson at my house (today's main topic: toothbrushing sessions), and crawled back into bed to try and finish some reporting and eat lunch. Well, what should have been a 30 minute lunch break turned into an afternoon of "veggin". Yep, this is what happens on a cloudy, somewhat rainy, and VERY windy day in site.
So, in honor of spring break...I'm taking a bit of a break. I'm going through one of those phases where I am enjoying the "messiness" of my life. Yesterday, as I surveyed what I had done (or HAD NOT done) during the day, I declared myself OFFICIALLY "in a rut". I hadn't done the dishes all day long, I had to pull myself out the comfort of my covers to make Fettuccini Alfredo(SIDENOTE: during the winter, if I'm inside of my house, I'm ALWAYS underneath a layer of blankets because there is no heating in my house and I only like to turn on the small heaters that I have when it is extremely cold...which is usually when I wake up in the mornings to grab an early tranzit at 5am).
However today, after a short skype (typing) conversation with a fellow PCV...I realized that I prepared for and implemented a two hour health lesson with 14 loud, whining 3-14 year olds today....I can take the afternoon off (it's ok...really!)I had alot to be tired from. One child refused to brush his teeth (after screaming for a "cooler" toothbrush) and another child threw three tantrums (within an hour) because I wouldn't let him be the first person to brush his teeth. I then proceeded to kick one of the teenage girls out of my house because she was being disruptive and mocking my accent (and then she threw a tantrum). In retrospect, it seems like an unsuccessful program...but that's just on the outside.
The truth of the matter is that more kids showed up today (which has been the trend) than the day before. The kids are always screaming "usteda, usteda, usteda" (which means teacher) and raising their hands because they want to be the first person (or the next in line) to brush their teeth in the hand washing bin that we use. Most of them are really excited to come and spend almost the whole session starring at their new tooth brushes. Every now and then I have to take a toothbrush away because they aren't paying attention to the health video I'm showing or they are whining/complaining that they want to take their toothbrush home, but the reality is that most of the kids have never had their own tooth brush before. Some of them have shared toothbrushed with siblings, when they were younger...but some have never even had one before. I can't blame them that they are excited to have something that belongs to them and only they can use. I also can't blame them for wanting to take it home and have to put it in a special place...but they'll have to wait until Friday.
So here is the way that the curriculum has gone (granted, keep in mind that this is just a test lesson for how to do toothbrushing lessons in the schools when there are about 30 kids per class).
The first day is an assessment of what the kids know (discussion about general hygiene, microbats (germs), and where germs are found). After a discussion about germs and the places they "live", we watched a video (in Tashlaheit) that was produced by Peace Corps volunteers and features Moroccans (health professionals, kids, and general community members) discussing health topics, such as tooth brushing. Then we end the session with a general question and answer about video. The next day we discuss several methods to toothbrushing (how to make a toothbrush if you don't have one or can't afford it, when to brush your teeth, what foods are good and bad for strong teeth) and practice brushing their teeth with toothbrushes that I purchased from the hanut (note: since these are kids whose families I am close with...I forgot about sustainability and bought them each tooth brushes for 2 durhams each, 40 cents, so that they could have something to practice with in hopes that their parents will buy them some in the future).
The next two days are spent reinforcing good techniques for toothbrushing, learning when to brush and watching videos/discussing health topics on handwashing, toothbrushing (again for reinforcement) and anti-smoking.
Each day there is a treat at the end of the 2 hours. The first day they got oranges (a good snack...I try not to give the kids too much sweets although I always end up giving them sugar highs with the carrot cake that I love making), the second and third day I treated them to a post-tooth brushing dance party courtesy of Taylor Swift (for those of you not in the know, a famous US country/pop artist) and the last day they got to take their tootbrushes home. Before the last class ended, we talked about why it is important not to share toothbrushes, where and for how much they can buy their own affordable toothbrush and toothpaste (toothpaste is a little more expenses in rural areas because their aren't as many pharmacies around), where is a safe clean place to put your toothbrush (so that someone doesn't use to clean a shoe or anything like that, and when to replace your toothbrush. I also spoke with parents to reinforce the lessons, which most parents know but don't do for all of their children.
Overall it was chaotic, fun, informative for the kids, and a good practice for me (language-wise, memorizing all of the kids names-15 kids is alot...especially when there were at least 3 Mohammed's in the bunch). I'd say it was a success....at the very least a reinforcement to school health lessons and lessons taught by parents, but this time done by the crazy tarumeet (foreigner).
No comments:
Post a Comment