It was all about health at the Fulani camp last week. Attendance was great and more of the adults are being registered. Asamau was sent to the hospital by her dad to get her wound dressed. Elias started school last Monday.
We had a joint class with three teachers Audrey Newton and me. We spoke to the students about personal hygiene and how to keep their surroundings clean.
Among the things we discussed are; proper washing of hands – with soap and clean water. The teachers demonstrated to them how to properly wash the hands to get rid of the germs that may be hiding in their nails before eating, after playing and after visiting the toilet. We explained to them that, this to a large extent will help prevent the contraction of bacteria associated diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.
During the talk, our investigation revealed that, the people have no latrines in their homes, neither is there one for the whole community. Due to this reason, everybody in the community defecate in the bush and leave it open without covering it. The flies then settle on this mess and bring it back to their homes leaving them with diseases .
We also spoke to them about how to treat their drinking water to make it safe. Since their source of drinking water was from an open fire hydrant point by the roadside. We taught them to boil their drinking water, allow it to cool and settle then it can be sieved with a clean napkin. This, we explained that, it will make their water safe to drink.
Again, we spoke to them about weeding their surroundings, keeping it clean at all times, and the proper disposal of waste to prevent the attraction of mosquitoes which causes malaria.
We also spoke to them about oral health prevention of body odor and many more.
Most of the kids were always coming to school bare footed without any sandals or slippers, so we encourage their parents to always ensure that their kids were either in their slippers or sandals.
We also advised to safely keep their National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards and to avoid keeping sick people for too long in the house before taking them to the hospital.
This week, turn up was poor; all the young girls and boys including the parents were not were not able to come. The little kids were the only ones who came to school today. It’s raining season in Ghana and a time to cultivate crops. ‘Everybody have left to the farm to do some planting”, one of the kids said. I was the only teacher; Audrey fell ill during the week and couldn’t come with me.
We did colorings and recited some rhymes. I had a very good time with kids.
Just as we were about to end, a few of the adults, who had by then finish with their work at the farm, joint us. They learnt some basic math and practiced some addition and subtraction.
Next week, we will treat more health topics. Am expecting a greater turn up next week than today
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