Laughter is the best medicine
In flood-devastated parts of the Solomon Islands, sock puppets are helping to teach children how to stay healthy.
Photo Credit: Lara McKinley/OxfamAUS
It’s when the first sock puppet appears that the squeals of laughter begin. The 330 school children gathered on the grass create so much noise that the puppet show takes a few minutes to begin again.
When it does, there are frequent bursts of laughter. Especially when one of the sock puppets gets an upset stomach from drinking dirty water, demonstrated by the puppeteers with what are rude noises in anyone’s language.
But there’s a serious side to the fun. For the students at Tamboko School, in the Solomon Islands, the message of the puppet show is vitally important — how to stay healthy.
This area was one of many in north-west Guadalcanal that flooded during heavy rain in January this year. The flooding killed 13 people and left around 8,000 homeless, living in makeshift camps. It also washed away some water sources and damaged others, putting these children at high risk of contracting diseases from dirty water.
So today’s travelling show, presented by Oxfam Australia’s health promotion team, provides the children with basic lessons — how to wash their hands properly, when to wash them and making sure they keep food covered, boil water before drinking and practise healthy toilet habits.
There are flash cards and storyboards with graphic illustrations of what flies do, and how important it is to keep them away from food. And the younger children get the chance to take part in basic activities — such as colouring-in, reading storybooks and making models from plasticine — to help reinforce the message.
“All of the things [Oxfam] has brought in, I’ve seen it will help me and make my body healthy,” says Angeline, a Form 1 student. [pull quote]
Adds Helena, also in Form 1: “I’m a person who didn’t wash my hands after going to play. Then when [Oxfam] told me about washing hands before eating, that made me happy.”
Tamboko Primary School Principal John Wesley said it’s important that the hygiene lesson was presented in a way that the children could understand.
“It’s important because health is their life and the basic hygiene activities presented this morning are quite a big help to them,” he said.
Photo Credit: Lara McKinley/OxfamAUS
Mr Wesley explains that the message from the presentation has the potential to travel beyond the children watching. “They might go home and tell their parents about the importance of washing hands after going to the toilet or before eating,” he said.
Oxfam Australia provided the health promotion activities after a request from the Solomon Islands Government, which was coordinating the broader flood response.
For more than a week our health promotion team visited schools and communities to spread the hygiene message — sometimes walking up to two kilometres to get to different villages, and crossing flooded rivers and streams where bridges had washed away.
Oxfam Australia’s Community Mobiliser Anja Solomon travelled from Ghizo Island to join the response. Two years ago, she helped present the same hygiene messages in her local communities on Ghizo after a destructive tsunami and earthquake hit the island.
“I really like helping others in giving out healthy hygiene messages,” Anja said. “The children, especially, really liked the program … it was funny but there was a message inside that show also.
“The people, the community people, they really appreciated the message. It was simple, but to the point. Because during disasters people always forget how to be healthy by drinking safe water, using proper toilets, and things like that.”
Author: Kate Thwaites
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