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Women’s Health & Hygiene Stage 2 BEGINS!
Women’s Health & Hygiene Workshop - Jana Jagriti School Gorkha
In December 2018 and into 2019, IYH worked with Days for Girls to deliver workshops to the 5 school communities we support. Over 600 women and girls attended and walked away with more confidence about how to manage their menstrual cycle and with a reusable sanitary pack to allow them to go to work and school.
Sanjeev, our Project Manager, recognised that without revisiting aspects of the workshop dealing with hygiene and health and adding more, we would be missing an opportunity to make a long term difference. He arranged for two experts in their field to come a deliver a workshop to the mother’s of Jana Jagriti School. The theory is that the mother is key to behaviour. If the mother understands and encourages behaviours, that will go to the next generation.
Here is a quote from Sanjeev’s
“As almost all the presented are illiterate, the trainers use by showing pictures to describe the topic clearly. Apart from that, the experiences sharing, feedback sharing, story telling/jokes, singing, idea collection methodology was used during the training. For the energizer, the participants also sang the song related to hygiene.
The course content that were covered during 4 hours long sessions were:
✓ Importance of mask and how to use it
✓ Describe the public health importance of personal hygiene
✓ Importance of sanitation and personal hygiene
✓ Importance of dental hygiene and how to clean and how to clean the tongue from available (distributed) tooth brush
✓ Relationship between nutrition and Hygiene
✓ Methods of water purification
✓ Discuss about menstruation hygiene and how & how often to clean pads clothes and private parts, when to change, how to dry clothes, how to dispose pads
✓ What to do during menstruation period (rest and eat nutritious food) and why to eat
✓ Discuss on different fecal-oral route and its prevention / environmental hygiene
✓ Explain hygienic handwashing, using standard procedures, and list the critical situations for effective handwashing
✓ Describe what are acceptable and poor personal hygiene practices
At the end of the training programme, all the trainers practically showed handwashing steps to the participants.”
We feel the health and hygiene workshops will really help the communities to reduce sickness and encourage a better attendance at school. When mothers associate the school with positive experiences and practical help, they will be more inclined to send their children.
The workshop was followed by a distribution of kits which included, soap, 4 toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and 1 nail cutter. Sounds simple, but that’s the point.
We want to thank Sanjeev for making this all happen. It is not easy as it involves lots of negotiating with local groups to get permission and attendance. He has a magic when he is on a mission to make a difference.
As an incentive for the children and mothers, we are giving a small cash prize to the child that presents themselves as the best each month in terms of hand washing and health.
Here is the video for you to enjoy showing the Workshop in action. The first half of the video is about the Leaf Plate Project which we will discuss in a separate blog. The second half of the video shares the workshop, the hand washing and the distribution. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h99hkMrq6f0
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