Ok so that may be old school at this point...but its what we said back in the day of Riverside High School 2000-2004. But the end point is that RHS Students basically rock. Why you might ask? Oh well grab a seat and I will tell you:
Last school year (for them) Ms. Davidson's International Relations class asked me if there was anything that they could do to help with a project in my site. Obviously I can't ask them to raise enough money to to a latrine project...lets face it, the NC School system needs that amount of money to put towards hiring more teachers. But I figured that they could help me with toothbrushes. Tooth Brushing is a daily habit majorly overlooked here in the campo of Peru. Most of the people I know...well in fact ALL of the people I know, even the Health Post Staff, have at least 3 cavities (not that the Peace Corps Volunteer doesn't have her share...So I was a rebellious child...I'm sorry mom!). Then even more are missing at least 3 or 4 teeth due to tooth extractions--my health post doesn't have the instruments to fill cavities, they just get to be so bad that they take the whole tooth out.
So obviously the best way to counter this trend of toothless Nanchoc-citizens, something must be done, and it must be done from the little ones right on up. Well I got my starting hand from Ms. D's IR class. I asked them for 150 tooth brushes. That would be enough for every child in my community between the ages of 4 and 8 to receive a tooth brush. And they sent me 205! Now that's what I'm talking about!
I've yet to give a lesson on tooth brushing to students, I have given the lesson to the health promoters with the help of some local kids. I'm looking forward to the end of winter vacations (which got pushed up 2 weeks due to the pig flu...) so that I can start giving the lessons! The game plan:
To start in the poorest caserios of my town, Aventuranza, Tingues, and Palto with their kindergarten through 2nd grade classes (which is around 35 kids) and then to move on to the actual Town of Nanchoc. I can't wait to start! I have made up a "television" out of a big box that I fill with slides. Each slide has a picture that corresponds to a story about the dangers of not brushing your teeth (aka cavities). The end product is that the kids feel like their watching a movie, not receiving a lesson. After the "movie" we're going to play a game. With 4 or 5 volunteers we will create our "mouth." The volunteers are the teeth. The other students in the class will stick with tape pictures of candy and sweets all over their classmates. Then we must "brush" our teeth with the "tooth brush," aka broom, until all clean!
When I get to giving lessons I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures for the IR class and post them all. A big ol thanks to RHS and all their hard work in getting me those tooth brushes! You guys are a great bunch of students!
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