Finally! The Tooth Brushing Campaign has begun! Thanks to the lovely help from Durham, North Carolina’s Riverside High School and their donation of 205 toothbrushes (as mentioned in my earlier blog) I have been able to start the Campaign. We started off strong, literally, by walking a few hours straight up the mountain to visit Palto, one of the further out caserios of Nanchoc and were greeted by 25 students excited to see what I had in my hiking pack for them…well that was after I promised about 500 times that I wasn’t there to give them shots. You see, they live so far away, that the majority of the little kids only see the Health Post workers when it’s time to get a shot. And since a lab technician came with me, their first reaction was to run further up the hill and hide.
So once I was able to convince them that I in fact was there to give them a lesson and to play a game, not stick them in the arm with a needle, the real fun (I mean work…just in case my boss is reading this) began. I had made a “television” out of cardboard and filled it with poster board. Each poster board has a picture on it, and we “show the movie” while their professor read the story of “Monchito el Golosinero” which translates along the lines of “Little Moncho, the Sweet Tooth.” I love the reaction I get from the kids doing this presentation. Their eyes are fixed on the TV screen, mouths gapping open, exclusively watching the movie. It’s amazing. I get such a great high off of that, knowing that the kids actually enjoy something that took me quite literally forever and a half to finish.
After the video I asked a few questions. I figured the movie went over so great, let’s see what they learned. I started off simple, “Why did Monchito get cavities in the story?” I was met with nothing more than 25 blank stares. So I tried again. “In the story, Monchito got cavities after eating too much of what?” Nothing. At this point I was trying extremely hard to not turn bright red and regress back to my entire schooling career and my fear of giving presentations in front of groups of people. Stuttering, oh yes people, I stuttered this part, I asked “Raise your hand if you understand me.” One kid raised his hand. A boy named Lucho who had been in the health post every day this summer to receive treatment for a bug bite that eats the flesh around where it bites—so needless to say he had heard me talk when I couldn’t talk at all, this was an improvement. The entire class turns and gives Lucho the “what the heck did she just say” face and he explains to the class “Jenny wants to know if we understand her.” I received 25 headshakes of “no.”
Damn. Remember that high I was talking about with the presentation…gone. So I took a deep breath and remember something Terry Dash once told me. Terry is an instructor at NCSU for the Outdoor Leadership programs and was my teacher for Backcountry Skills. In that class we had to give presentations on outdoor skills techniques and he told me that I talk unbelievably fast when I give presentations. He didn’t say the why part, but the why part is that I get so nervous giving presentations that I shake and want to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible…so I talk fast. Remembering that I though…hmm speed-talking gringo-Spanish just might be the problem.
I took another deep breath and repeated, at a turtle’s pace, “Raise your hand now if you can understand me.” Thank God. There were at least 22 hands that went up. Ok, I have them back. Then I proceeded to ask the rest of my questions just to make sure they got the story. Success! They all answered (in unison) all the questions correctly and then all participated in a game. It was great.
To use a bad saying for this situation, I then put the sprinkles on top by bringing out the tooth brushes. “Ok guys. Remember how I said that I’m from the United States? Well I have a class over there that wanted to give you guys a present…They sent me toothbrushes from the United States, one for each of you.” You’d have thought I was Santa Clause. They formed a nice and neat line and one by one took a toothbrush from the bag and I noted one huge difference from what I’m used to State-side. There was no looking for their favorite color, rummaging around in the bag trying to find the “best” or the “coolest” looking toothbrush, one by one they all grabbed a toothbrush and stared at it as if it could possibly come to life at any moment. Some boys had pink ones or purple ones, one guy had glitter on his, and unlike in any classroom in the United States they weren’t trying to switch with the girl beside them who had a red or green one. They just stared at their very own tooth brush.
“Look mine’s got a gel handle! IT’S SQUISHY!”
“OOO mines got bumps on the back!”
“Mine’s got the gel too!
“Look! You can see through mine and it makes things bigger!”
They spent about 2 minutes just getting to know the ins and outs of their toothbrushes. Ones from the states are far more advanced than the cheap Peruvian toothbrushes. Forget a tongue cleaner, or gel handles, or funny bristles to get the crud out from your teeth, Peruvian cheap drug store toothbrushes don’t even have that little rubber get-the-crud-out-from-your-teeth nub. This was just mind blowing.
“So who’s ready to practice brushing their teeth??” I asked. A roar of “I AM!!!” told me it was time to pass out the toothpaste. I put a little bit on each brush, I did it to show how little they’d need, and then we began brushing teeth. I figured it’d be best for me to do it with them and explain as we go. Seemed like a great idea. We started out with the brushing up and down on the front teeth, the sides, and then we moved to the sides. Right about the sides I realized the flaw in my plan. It’s hard as heck to talk with a mouth full of toothpaste foam. Choking back the toothpaste I talked them through the other side, the insides, then the tongue and we all ran to the side of the hill to spit off into the grass and wash our toothbrushes with a water bottle I filled with water and put a hole in the top to make a squirter. It went great! The kids loved it! Their parents might be extremely confused as to where the neon blue toothpaste streaks are on their jackets…it seems that a few of the kids had issues with a mouth full of toothpaste as well. But all and all a great trip!
I handed out stickers, we decorated empty Pepsi bottles with their names and drawings to put their toothbrushes in (to keep the dust and dirt off of them) and then signed a contract to brush their teeth every day after snack time and to always leave the toothbrush at the school. Then I said my goodbyes, and started back down the hill to my house with a minty fresh clean feeling.
(PS. pictures will be coming soon. I just forgot my camera this trip. Sorry)
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