After School Program - Health Week

Working with the children is always a pleasure. We never fully know what to expect or which kids will show up, but it is exciting and the kids are always so eager to learn. The Punjab team maintains an ongoing After School Program that focuses on different topics each week, ranging from Math to Sports. The title of our program is a bit of a misnomer because most of the children do not in fact attend school. Most of the children do not know how to read or write, and they range from 2-17 years old. This forces us to be very creative in our delivery, and also with how we communicate. Since the children are migrants from other parts of India, they often speak either Rajasthani, Punjabi, or Hindi. None of them know English, which forces us to quickly brush up on our Hindi skills!

My week for this month involved planning activities for Health week. We reviewed body parts in Hindi, good foods to eat, and which activities are good and bad for our health. We also showed them a hand-washing video and talked about when we should wash our hands. Images are key to communication and games as well. I found that our week was very successful, the kids loved to learn and share what they knew! I find that they are receptive to what we have to say, but changing behaviour is a very long and difficult path. Even though most children know walking around barefoot in the camp where there is trash can cut their feet, they still choose not to wear shoes even if they have them.

I think we also have to focus on spreading these messages to the adults in addition to the children. That requires catering our message to a different audience but educating both of those groups together will really help us in improving the health outcomes of the community as a whole.

- Margaret Arzon, USA

Women Empowerment Project Manager, Punjab

Utilizing Technology!

Recently I have been using Youtube videos as a way to educate and motivate the migrants in regards to health topics such as hand washing, nutrition and immunization. The use of media is interesting because in a way it has been a paradox between a hurdle and a tool.

First to start off with context, the migrants in Paro, Punjab live on government land. The insecurity of their future looms down at them as a government building is being constructed meters away. The construction is taking place on land which they lived on until they were forced to move.

Their lives are an enigma in many ways, a condition of acceptance of their status is inherited. Their children play and spend time on the construction site where there camp once stood. Although it’s not just the children who spend time here, the adults from the camp could be found here wasting time as well. As the construction takes place, in a small brick room adjacent to the construction there is a television hooked up to a satellite.

The children and some of the adults could be found here. This small room with a small television proved to be a problem at times, in particular when we wanted to work with the children. Parting them from the television became a bit of a chore.  

This in turn became another small hurdle in our work with the migrants, along with communication gaps.

As time went on it was suggested to me that some people in Naddi had found videos in Hindi, which they use. With some simple research I managed to find videos which were able to convey ideas in concepts that I had long wanted to get across but couldn’t due to language gaps. When utilized the videos proved to be quite a successful tool to overcome hurdles. Here enters the paradox of how media and technology can be both a hindrance and a tool. I hope we can find other ways of using technology and media in creative, educational ways, which allows as certain degree of independence and control.

John Vargas, Canada

Health Project Manager, Punjab