"Hygiene is two thirds of health" -proverb
Hygiene is such an important part of being healthy and is often overlooked in education, specifically education for refugee youth. Refugees come from a variety of different countries, backgrounds, cultures, and religious backgrounds. Often they don't have all the knowledge of proper, healthy hygiene practices, especially children.
So, this past Sunday, September 15, 2019, we hosted our first Hygiene Workshop for refugee youth in Mesa, Arizona in collaboration with RISE. First we completed an interactive presentation on hygiene. We taught the kids about oral health, eye health, ear health, hair health, and skin health. We also informed the kids about germs and the importance of proper hand-washing techniques. Additionally, we taught the older kids about the importance of deodorant, and proper face washing.
After the presentation we had all the kids make their own hygiene kits. We supplied the students with toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, mouth wash, lotion, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, body wash, deodorant, face wash, and other hygiene products. We explained how to use all the products and the positive effects the products would have on their health.
They we played a fun activity with glitter that showed how quickly germs can travel and how long it takes to wash your hands to take the germs (glitter) off. We ended our workshop by having a seminar where we tested the kids on what they had learning during the workshop. Amazingly, the kids learned so much about hygiene.
The kids and the tutors had so much fun learning about hygiene and everyone felt empowered through the powers of hygiene.
