And then there were four...

Well, it has been a very busy week! Last night, four of our team members headed back to the US. Ryan, Carrie, April, and Krista are probably hanging out in the airport at Amsterdam now waiting for their next flight. Galen, Lee, Melinda and I are gearing up for the next phase of the trip. But, let me update you on what has been going on.

This past week Carrie and I conducted our second health class for the students. The topic was personal hygiene. We discussed oral care and hand washing. It went really great! For oral care we facilitated a discussion with the students about barriers to brushing their teeth. The kids had some really thoughtful answers and it was awesome to see their brains trying to work out the issue. Then we talked about how we can overcome these barriers so that they can be brushing their teeth. Carrie had a great idea of getting some concrete blocks to represent teeth and she did a demonstration of how to properly care for your teeth. We even used some rope for floss. This kids loved it. For the handwashing, we also did a demonstration. Carrie was able to get a black light and “glo germ” from the FSU College of Nursing. We took the kids to the office where there is electricity and had two of them rub the glogerm on their hands. The glo germ is invisible in regular light but will show up in the black light. The powder represents germs on their hands. First we had the kids wash their hands normally. What they usually do here is have someone pour water on your hands from a pitcher. No soap is used. When we checked their hands with the black light it was clear that the majority of the germs remained on their hands. The kids were pretty shocked and immediately wanted to wash their hands again. We gave them some soap and the germs came right off. It was really a great way to visually show the kids how effective it is to wash your hands with soap. We ran out of time for a discussion so we will continue next week on that topic. I want to facilitate a discussion much like the one we had on tooth brushing concerning the barriers and solutions to washing hands with soap here at the orphanage. I hope that the kids will be able to come up with a solution for themselves and really run with it.

The kids were not the only ones last week getting some health classes. Carrie and I also did a basic CPR training for the teachers. They were very interested in this and enthusiastic about getting involved. Being out here, we do not have any CPR dummies like you might find in a CPR class in the states, so we did some creative improvising. We had the teachers volunteer as victims and we went through the steps of CPR. Instead of doing compressions on their chest though, we had them do it on a football. Out here you've got to work with what you've got. I think it was a pretty good simulation though. In the end they each went through a CPR scenario and I think they really learned a lot. Now they feel more equipped to handle a situation where a child stops breathing.

Well, thats the health update. We are getting ready to head out soon so I will finish up with a little language mistake story. While in Mwanza I was talking with Goephrey's sister and was saying “Ninatayiri.” I thought I was saying “I am ready” but she was looking at me funny. I kept repeating it and finally she started laughing. Apparently, I was actually saying “I am circumcised.” it took her a minute to figure out what I was really trying to say. To say “I am ready” is Ninatayari. Very close. We had a good laugh. I love swahili!