Children and young people assisted by the Angola Humanitarian Mission learn about the importance of personal hygiene.
Humanitarian aid volunteers of the Fraternity –International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) sponsored a training on Personal Hygiene and its impact on preventative health, in Rwanda, Angola. This activity was aimed at leaders and educators of the Santa Isabel Children’s House.
“We realized there was a need for emphasizing the importance of personal hygiene for maintaining the physical health of the children and young people. And we know they need to be educated about their own hygiene. This is why we taught a class,” explains the humanitarian aid volunteer and monk of the Grace Mercy Order, Mother María del Huerto.
The Mother says that during the Meeting, they were able to discuss with them the importance of simple habits such as washing one’s hands, bathing, brushing one’s hair and teeth, trimming one’s nails, and how to take care of female and male personal hygiene to prevent diseases of the reproductive system. The different kinds of illnesses that occur when these practices are not carried out were described.
“The young people interacted the whole time, showing great interest in the matter, giving examples of how personal hygiene is practiced in their daily lives, giving us the opportunity to instruct them further on these habits. Many questions were asked, mainly about the illnesses that occur when we don’t practice correct hygiene,” she explains
Another important aspect of the training, highlighted by Mother María del Huerto, was the degree of “interest shown in how they could help each other in their personal hygiene, and inquiries on maintaining personal daily hygiene and how to do so without failing to do it daily.”
Paula, one of the teachers of the Santa Isabel House, knows how important everything taught during the training was, because she will be one of those continuing on with this knowledge, and will teach it to the children and young people that the institution cares for.
“We learned a lot. We as educators must maintain our own hygiene. We must learn and pass it on to the children, and many times, teaching it is not speaking about it; it’s doing it,” she emphasizes.
Learning creatively, with joy and respect
Playful and explanatory activities helped to raise the awareness and amuse the children and young people when going over the information about the subject. Mother María del Huerto reinforced the importance of those aspects during the learning, and tells us that the training was “a very important experience, because everyone assimilated it in a happy, light-hearted and healthy way.”
In spite of the challenge of facing a reality that does not support maintaining personal hygiene, the humanitarian aid volunteer points out that one of her greatest lessons learned during the unfolding of the AngolaHumanitarian Mission was the use of creative and compassionate methods for overcoming the lack of material resources.
“I acquired a profound respect for the human condition, and the efforts made to maintain their dignity. I felt a responsibility for these beings. I think I learned more than what I was teaching,” she concludes.
