ADOLESCENT HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM

Based on the premise that many diseases such as HIV/AIDS, are avoidable if only young people had access to basic information... SPW health campaigns in schools and communities were begun. These campaingns ensure that accurate and consistent messages are conveyed and that essential life skills are developed to protect their sexual health and that of their peers.

The SPW volunteers conducted focus group discussions and used questionnaires (separately with students from Class 6 - Class 9) to spell out areas which directly concerned this group. This was followed up with a meeting with parents and a workshop for the teachers.

Having got a clear picture of the students understanding of their sexuality and other issues related to it, a three day retreat was organized with our partnering Medical NGO's . Although students were diffident to discuss at the start of the retreat we found their enthusiasm and willingness to openly talk improved significatly as the days went by. The sessions were interactive and were well recieved. Many questions were dropped in the Question Box each day and time was spent to address every question that was raised.

The Head teachers of the schools and the Parent Teacher Associations were very appreciative of the programme and the role played by SPW volunteers as peer educators in presenting health issues to young people and encouraging them to adopt a more pro-active role in maintaining their health.

WORLD AIDS DAY 2004

In the KV Kuppam Block the volunteers working in Machinoor Government High School organized a rally in which three other High Schools from that Block participated. About 1200 students participated and walkedthrough at least 5 different villages before gathering at the RUHSA Community Hall where they participated in music, elocution and skit competition on the theme HIV AIDS - PREVENTION, REMOVING STIGMA AND CARE.

In the sholingur Block the volunteers from the Vallimalai High School along with students from a school in chitoor conducted a rally in which about 800 students participated. In the evening they conducted a street drama at the Vallimalai village centre.

In the Annaicut Block the volunteers at the Government High School Keekothur conducted a rally in which about 600 students participated. These students put up a very colorful programme in the centre of their village at night using Indian folk music, dance and drama. The students were trained by professionals which made it attractive and the message was effectively communicated.

The volunteers and students would have reached out to at least 8000 people on World Aids Day through the rallies and street dramas. The events also found a place in the national newspaper 'The Hindu'.

NUTRITION DAY AND BREAKFAST AWARENESS PROGRAMS

         "The first program we organised focused on nutrition education. We invited dietitians into the school. They gave a very interactive talk to the students, increasing their awareness of the importance of various foods and eating healthily. The students' mothers were also invited for a gender sensitization talk. The dietitians raised the issue of female nutrition as part of a discussion on the girl child and the role women play in the health, education and development of society. It was very well attended and also provided a forum for them to discus issues for the first time.

          As a group we celebrated nutrition day by holding lunchtime games and competitions. The main event was a cooking competition, which was judged on taste, presentation and nutritional value by the teachers. Other games included blindfold and taste, match the food to the nutrient it contains and nutrition pyramid game. We also had a lime and spoon race for the teachers and put up lots of informative posters around the school. It was a day marked with lots of fun but the children certainly had learned a great deal about their diet and food value in a very informal environment.

          Following Nutrition Day we identified the need for a breakfast awareness campaign. This was realised through observing girls fainting at school and also from discussions with students and teachers. We made a set of flashcards, which highlighted the link between breakfast, school performance and energy for play. The whole school was educated through the Flashcards in assembly. We also made two posters, one detailing breakfast facts and another (banana shaped) highlighting bananas as a convenient and cheap breakfast alternative and most commonly available fruit.

          The main part of the campaign was a letter (written in the local language) on the importance of breakfast, which was sent by name, via the students to their mothers. This focused on the importance of breakfast for their daughter's health ( as an adolescent and looking into the future as a healthy mother), school performance, general alertness and ability, to assist with household chores. The second half of the letter was a questionnaire, which we asked the mothers to complete and return. This sought to find out if their daughters ate breakfast, whether it was the mothers or daughters who insisted on this meal, what the daughter ate, and what the reasons for not eating breakfast were (lack of time, work load, too expensive etc). We gave out the letter to every student and received back three hundred completed questionnaires. The results showed that in general the mothers didn't insist on their girls having breakfast and the most common reason for not eating breakfast was lack of time.
Based on our findings we wrote a follow up letter, stressing the need for mother's to insist on breakfast and to ensure their daughters make time for it (we emphasized the need to spend time eating rather than doing extra early morning study)".

TUBERCULOSIS PROGRAM

"Every breath counts - stop TB" was the theme for World Tuberculosis Day on 24th March 2004."

          To educate the students about T.B. we read a great deal and received training from Dr. K.R. John (T.B. specialist responsible for the DOTS program from Christian Medical College and Hospital). We celebrated T.B. day with a puppet show in assembly.This informed the students of T.B. symptoms, transmission, prevention and cure. We also made posters - a giant one which showed the transmission of T.B. from an infected individuals lungs to another individual. We then put up a suggestions box- for students to raise questions and also drop in the names of relatives with T.B. symptoms. These questions were then answered later on in an assembly and written up on posters. We referred the patients that came to our notice to the local government Primary Health Care centre.

          In addition to these events, we focused on T.B. education in our club (Junior Red Cross and Health and Sanitation) meetings - we used flashcards, made a word-search, snakes and ladders and true or false game. We also educated the students at the local middle school. We performed a Puppet show in assembly and showed the flashcards during one of the extra curricular lesson, which we conduct at the middle school every Thursday.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

          "We felt that it was very important to celebrate International Women's Day at the Girls School. As outsiders we observed the low status of women in the local community (as in many areas in India) and discussed with our Indian counterparts the many challenges that women face.

          We arranged a variety of activities throughout the day, which we hoped, would address the different reasons behind the low status of women and poor quality of life. Career counselling was organized for the ninth standard girls in the morning. The aim of this event was to inspire and motivate the girls. We were aware of the absence of career counselling at the school. We also invited the mothers to increase their awareness of the opportunities available for their daughters and to gain their support. A doctor, lawyer, journalist, engineer and a teacher addressed both groups on career options.

          A woman lawyer also advised the mothers and ninth standard students on the legal rights of a woman. She also discussed the issues of rape, dowry, divorce and sexual abuse in the legal context.

          We collected articles from English and Tamil newspapers and magazines on various issues. We made two scrap books and plan to keep these in the new school Library. From the information we generated a number of discussion themes - eve teasing, rape, dowry, women's empowerment (success stories etc) and female infanticide. In groups of two, we conducted discussions using the newspaper articles with eighth standard girls.
The local Karate master and three of his students taught the whole school self defense ie, tips such as where to attack men (eyes and groin areas) and how to defuse advances in public transport. We wanted the girls to publicly acknowledge that such abuse takes place and women can and should defend themselves.

          After-school debate was also held. The title was "women's submissiveness a consequence of men or society". We felt this was an excellent way to really get the girls to think about women's status and for them to consider whether it should be improved and who is to blame for inequalities between men and women.


SCHOOL AWARENESS EVENING
Aims
          1) To raise the profile of SPW's work in 4 schools in the village amongst the local villagers and to                          discourage them against vandalising or misusing the school's facilities.
         2) To enable students from all schools to participate and feel proud of their schools.

The Event
          A program which consisted of 20 items including dances, songs, a play, some poems,
speeches by local panchayat leaders, the District Education Officer and SPW staff. The event was held in the grounds of a local function hall in the village centre with a hired stage and lighting. An information board displayed posters and photos of previous and current SPW projects.

          The event proved a big success and was attended by over 1000 people. The messages were effectively communicated through dance, drama and music.

Promotion
          Posters and pamphlets advertising the event were printed and distributed in Ussoor and surrounding villages in the week leading up to the event. In addition, handmade posters with relevant slogans such as `don't vandalise the school toilets` were put up around the school and the village.

Speeches
          The event began with a series of speeches by SPW leaders, the District Education Officer, the headmistress of the Girls High School and local panchayat leaders.

Poem Competition
          This was run in the two high schools before the event and the 3 finalists were asked to read their poem. The themes were "My perfect school".

Songs
          SPW volunteers took popular songs and altered the text to promote SPW and our work. One was taught to students and performed by a choir of 15 members and the other was performed by all the SPW volunteers.

Street Play
          A play of 10 short scenes describing the vandalism and misuse of school property was written by the volunteers and performed by students from the Girl's High School. Students were encouraged to make their own costumes and the volunteers also helped them with it. Two backdrops for the play were painted and pinned to the main backdrop.
The play was well - performed and was particularly effective in communicating our messages.

Dances
          Seven dances in total were performed by students from all 4 schools. SPW volunteers helped to co-ordinate 3 dances from the Girls High School including 2 Indian and 1 Western dance. The other schools worked on the dances alone. It was a great success.

Conclusion
          An enjoyable event where all the volunteers worked hard together and all were pleasantly surprised by the attendance and the quality of the performances.

LEADERSHIP SUMMER CAMP 2004

          The Vinampalli High School where the volunteers worked had a problem of non availability of time because the school was a center for public examinations so they did not have the mornings to work with the children the last two weeks of their placement. The volunteers came up with the idea of a summer camp that was to be held for the students of Std 8. The camp started on the first of April and went on till the 14th of April. There were about fifty-seven students who attended the camp regularly and went on to receive certificates for the same. The response was good and the volunteers felt that they made a small difference to the children who attended it. The activities that were conducted were as follows

1) leadership training(through games and social skills development activities)
2) cooking classes(locally available ingredients for healthy diet)
3) library usage (book reviews and short story writing)
4) creativity (painting and paper mache modeling)
5) sports (games like cricket, volleyball &football)

          The students were also taken on a tour to the Vellore Fort as a break from the routine of continuous activity. A sport's day was conducted on the 12th of April where different houses participated in games like sack race, football. The winners were given medals on the last day of the camp. Overall the camp was a great success and the students enjoyed it thoroughly. It helped the volunteers to identify potential leaders and train them to shoulder responsibility to help with the sustainability of the projects already set up at the school such as the zero waste management, library and health clubs.

"IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE" THIRD WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 2004

          A one day workshop was held for Head Masters and teachers from 20 schools under the leadership of the District Education Department and SPW. It was a follow up workshop to evaluate and assess the achievements of these schools over the last 6 months, provide a forum to discus the problems encountered, motivate the teachers and to make definite plans for the third term at school. It was very well attended. There were 60 participants consisting of Head teachers and two teachers from each school.

          In June 2003 at the start of the academic year, on the invitation of the District Education Officer, we did a workshop for 50 Head Masters. These schools had performed very poorly at the last Public Exams and were selected on the basis of their results. We had a review workshop in September and were greatly encouraged that 60 per cent of the schools showed evidence of improvement as a result of careful planning and implementation of plans. The District Education Department had also been keeping a close watch and monitoring these schools. For the workshop in January only 20 of the schools which continued to be a problem and was still struggling was invited to the workshop.

          We do hope these schools have been able to make a difference and have helped their students to perform well in the Public Exams held in April. We are all eagerly awaiting the results in May!!!!!!!!