Etta Projects honors the memory of Etta Turner (1986-2002).

Healthy Schools Project Updates

February Update, 2011 and Final Report

The one-year Healthy Schools Project concluded successfully in December 2010 with activities in three broad areas-teacher training and hygiene education, improvement of sanitation infrastructure in schools, and a school garden program.

Hygiene Education
The primary focus of the Healthy Schools Project was to promote hygiene and sanitation education and thereby improve habits that have an adverse impact on health. Thirteen schools in nine rural communities were involved, with 63 teachers and 977 students participating directly. Although focused on the health of students, the benefits of the Project were felt beyond the schools themselves. Family and community members attended hygiene educational events at the schools and benefited indirectly through exposure to the new skills and information brought home by their children. Overall, the Healthy Schools Project impacted almost 4000 people.

Etta Projects staff worked with teachers and school directors through monthly workshops, providing education in healthy hygiene habits and pedagogical methods. Teachers learned how to provide collaborative learning environments where students could participate in a reflective and practical educational process. Etta Projects partnered with the Department of Education, which provided time and certification for teachers who completed the training program.

To implement improved hygiene practices, Etta Projects created "Hygiene Stations" in each classroom in participating schools. Every hygiene station included toilet paper, towels, toothbrushes for every student, toothpaste, nail clippers, cuticle brushes, soap, laundry detergent, bleach, buckets, brooms and mops. Initial supplies were distributed at the beginning of the academic year, but were not restocked by Etta Projects. Teachers and students organized systems to replace materials, sometimes through small student donations, sometimes through income from school gardens. Many classrooms turned their hygiene stations into colorful, imaginative and highly functional units, using simple, mostly recycled, materials.

Each participating school held a "Hygiene Fair" midway through the project to celebrate the work of students and teachers and create a link between the project and the community. These Fairs served as teaching tools-children became community leaders, demonstrating hygiene practices they had learned. Mud and cement classroom walls were transformed into colorful, imaginative places to learn and interact, with artistic presentations about water purification and the spread of illness, crafts made of recycled materials, and science projects. Students put on puppet shows and plays about healthy hygiene habits in schoolyards. These fairs were a great success, bringing the community together in a fun and celebratory atmosphere. They also provided Etta Projects staff with an opportunity to interact with parents, many of whom shared stories of the changes their children had made at home-insisting on washing their hands after playing or brushing their teeth after eating, for example.

 

Sanitation Infrastructure
Although the primary focus of Healthy Schools was hygiene education, Etta Projects also considered basic infrastructure needs and supported improvements when possible. At the start of the project most of the schools had extremely poor water and sanitation infrastructure-84% did not have access to flushable toilets, 46% did not have access to running water, and 76% did not have running water near the school toilets. Etta Projects worked with the local water cooperative, COSMIN, to connect water lines to three school bathrooms. In conjunction with another Etta Projects Rotary-funded project, Etta Projects also completed water systems in three villages, creating a distribution system that brings clean running water to each home as well as to the school and school bathrooms.

School Gardens
School gardens were implemented in nine of the thirteen schools, supplementing students' diets with fresh, nutritious vegetables and providing income for ongoing school health projects through sales to the community. The garden program experienced several setbacks due to poor soil quality, pests and inadequate water supply in some villages. These challenges delayed the anticipated timeline of garden activities and the project fell short in developing all intended links between gardens and education. Despite this, teachers and students learned valuable gardening skills-everything from creating beds to planting to harvesting and saving seeds. They also gained problem solving and teamwork skills by managing garden work and overcoming obstacles. Students from fifth grade and up learned business and math skills by selling vegetables to the community.

Healthy Schools Project Outcomes
Throughout the year, project staff consistently monitored the Project with a variety of evaluation tools, including baseline, mid and end interviews with teachers and community members, routine visits and observations, and reports by teachers. Results showed the Project has led to a marked improvement in hygiene practices in all of the schools, including hand washing, teeth brushing, cleaning of school facilities and sanitation practices. Basic knowledge regarding hygiene, sanitation and transmission of disease has greatly improved. Hygiene promotion messages are clearly displayed in schools and outside on school property. Community members are more informed and feel better organized to maintain hygiene practices. Teachers report that they feel better equipped to utilize participatory teaching methods and incorporate different learning styles. Three schools now have improved water systems in place.

Etta Projects recognizes that a long-term impact on hygiene habits in both schools and villages are difficult to achieve from a year-long project. We are committed to supporting the villages and will enhance the experiences gained in the 2010 Healthy Schools Project by offering multiple capacity-building programs to targeted groups in the participating villages. The 2011 Communities in Action project, supported by Rotary International, will integrate these components into one comprehensive project The primary objective of Communities in Action is to reduce poverty in ten rural villages through the implementation of three distinct grassroots programs: Leaders in Action, Productive Schools in Action and Health Promoters in Action.

 

 

 

September Update, 2010

All of the communities involved in the Healthy School Project are buried deep in sugarcane fields, the biggest crop in eastern Bolivia. Over the last decade in an attempt to make sugarcane crops less labor intensive the burning technique has become more prevalent. Unfortunately, the smoke caused by the enormous fires produces smog is so thick it is difficult to see and breathe. With no means to collect and dispose of their garbage, many communities resort to burning refuse which only contributes to the smog.

In response to the increased levels of burning, one of principle themes of the teacher development trainings in September was to explore pollution, contamination and garbage. Teachers reflected on some of the major causes of contamination and created practical activities to further explore these issues with their students. Now schools are reducing, reusing, and burying much of their refuse. Some teachers have taken the initiative to work with families on composting piles for their school garden.

Hygiene Campaigns: Each school held a small event in their community to practice what children had learned from from the Healthy Schools Project. Etta Projects helped schools organize a variety of stations such as hand washing, teeth brushing, finger nail trimming and an anti-lice campaign. Students rotated among the stations and showed their families some important hygiene practices.

School Gardens: Etta Project's welcomed to its team the Coordinator of School Gardens, Marco Lopez. Marco is dedicated to sustainable gardens and green practices and is an asset to both Etta Projects and the communities the projects serve. Since Marco started working with Etta Projects he has made routine visits to the schools and has helped teachers and students meet many of the program objectives. Schools now serve produce from the garden in both its school breakfasts and school lunches. Each school also sells the vegetables to the community and has collected savings that will be used to maintain the hygiene materials in the classrooms.

 

Dental and Vision Team: In September Etta Projects sent a group of eight U.S. volunteers to Bolivia to provide basic dental and eye care to families in the eleven rural communities that participate in the Healthy School Project. People stood in long lines wrapped around the village schools as they awaited the rare opportunity to receive dental care. In six days of service Dr. Greg Psaltis and Dr. Eugene Mumford provided care to 240 individuals and extracted approximately 300 teeth. Moreover, the vision team supported the villages by providing vision screening and correction to approximately 400 people.

 

June Update, 2010

Healthy School Project

"Pueblo..Miron, lavate las manos con agua y jabon"
(Translation: Town Watcher....wash your hands with water and soap)

"Cuidemos el Agua, el agua es vida"
(Translation: Take care of the water...water is life)

"Cuidemos el agua, por que gota a gota se agota"
(Translation: Take care of the water, because drop by drop we deplete it")

These are the chants that local people sang in the villages where Etta Projects has its Healthy School Projects. Throughout the month of June each of the twelve schools that participate in the Healthy School Project hosted a Hygiene & Sanitation Fair for their entire community to attend. The fairs were an opportunity to celebrate the work of the students and the teachers. They were also a chance to present the many accomplishments of the projects to the children's parents and create a link between the project and the community. Perhaps most importantly, the fairs served as a teaching tool- children became community leaders as they sang and chanted some of the principle lessons of the project for all to learn.

On the day of the fair the mud and cement rooms of the small rural schools transformed into imaginative, colorful places to learn and interact. The walls and tables of every classroom were filled with the students' projects supported by the project. Each classroom had a variety of unique demonstrations- from drawings to crafts made from recycled materials to science projects. Some students gave presentations on topics such as how to purify water, how to effectively wash one's hands, or how to maintain a latrine clean and odorless. Other students participated in puppet shows or plays that told stories about ill children and different habits they had to practice to stay healthy. The students were proud to share their accomplishments with their parents and neighbors; and the community had fun interacting in new ways with their village's school. People laughed at the puppet shows and the plays, chanted out loud with the children, and proudly applauded at the work of the students.

The school fairs served as an evaluation tool, revealing a number of positive outcomes of the Healthy Schools Project. First, teachers are utilizing creative, participatory methodologies to interact with the children. Students are not just memorizing material, but they are singing, dancing, presenting and practicing healthy behaviors. In addition, 100% of the classrooms have implemented a hygiene station in the class and all show evidence of daily hand washing, teeth brushing and classroom cleanup. Teachers and parents reveal that students, for example, now insist that they wash their hands after playing and brush their teeth after eating. Moreover students, teachers and parents are excited about the project and are satisfied with the results.

In June Etta Projects also supported the implementation of school bathrooms in one of the participating villages. This is the first time the village has ever had flushable toilets and community showers! The day of the installation students eagerly gathered around to see how the toilets function. Prior to the installation of the toilets, most students opted to go to the bathroom outside because the school latrines were poorly maintained and over-flooded.

School Gardens
The seeds have been planted and the vegetables are sprouting. The garden program has also recently formed Garden Teams in each village comprised of a teacher, a community member and a student. The Garden Teams enhance participation of the community in the project and has helped sustain the gardens over the school's two-week winter break. Still, the results of the garden projects are moving slower than we had anticipated. The gardens have been threatened this year by both bad weather and plant diseases. In June Etta Projects' Garden Technician held a workshop for the teachers to support schools solving garden problems. Our goal is that the teachers learn how to utilize the uncontrollable challenges of the garden to help students gain skills such as becoming more flexible and being better problem solvers.

  

  April Update, 2010

Creating Sustainable Classroom Hygiene

The participating schools lack the basic supplies in order to maintain a healthy learning environment. Most schools require students to pay for use of toilet paper, and even so it is rarely readily available. The students are forced to go to the bathroom outside in the open air or in overflowing pit latrines, and later use paper or leaves to clean themselves. This month Etta Projects distributed different supplies to promote hygiene and sanitation to each teacher in the participating schools. The materials included toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, toilet paper, buckets, sponges, soap, soap containers, towels, nail cutters, and laundry detergent. The schools immediately recognized the benefits of having the materials, and some schools are already considering the sustainability of the project. They have started a collection of .50 Bolivian cents each week per child so that schools can continue to purchase hygiene materials and maintain their school as a healthy place to learn.

Environmental Celebration Projects

The first assignment Etta Projects gave to the teachers was to celebrate the International Day of Water on March 22nd in their classes. Etta Projects gave teachers materials to help realize different activities. Our staff visited each school to monitor the teachers' activities and see how they incorporated different ideas involving water into their curriculum. The motivation and enthusiasm around the project was obvious. Students sang songs involving water, drew pictures, designed collogues, gave presentations, and watched videos. Each teacher found something unique to do involving the importance of preserving and purifying water. The school that won for best creativity was the rural school, Las Palmas. Teachers from Las Palmas put their resources together and organized a parade around their community. Students and teachers made giant water drops from construction paper and wrote different ideas about water. The teachers and students paraded around the community with their water drops chanting "Water is life. We must take care of our water." The students cheered, encouraged and taught the entire community to take better care of the village's resources. Students transformed into teachers and the whole community became conscious of one of the most important objectives of the project.

The 14 rural schools also celebrated Earth Day on April 23rd. The winning school for creativity, Las Parabas, put on a small play for the community. A 6-year-old girl played the part of Madre Tierra (Mother Earth). Sitting in a field outside the school with a worried look on her face, Madre Tierra pretended to cry. One by one different students approached Madre Tierra and asked why she was crying. To each student, Madre Tierra responded with a different reason. "I am crying because that the air is so dirty that I can hardly breathe." "I am crying because I am very thirsty, and the rivers and lakes are too dirty to drink." "I am crying because I am ugly from garbage and litter, and no one will help clean me up." As the small child spoke, the audience began to turn their heads and look at the different problems in their community. Instead of looking past the garbage and pollution, the problem became real and obvious. It was yet another time that the project's message was passed from teacher to student, from student to the community.

School Gardens

Etta Projects has been actively coordinating with local municipalities, the Prefecture and other NGOs in the area to implement a school garden in each of the schools. Agriculturist Grover Paco, Coordinator of School Gardens, has distributed gardening tools, seeds, and education materials to the participating schools. Due to the unexpected heavy rain these past two months, the garden project has been postponed. Gardens are expected to be underway the first week in May.

 

February Update, 2010

Etta Projects has been hard at work to get the Healthy School Project off the ground. The preparation for this project has been an exciting process for our organization. Some of the highlights of the past month include:

Partner Meetings

Over the past month the project partners have negotiated on each institution's distinct responsibilities. The unique role of each partner is what allows this project to make a truly great impact on the health and hygiene of the entire communities.

Etta Projects	Water Coop	Ministry of Edu	Municipality	Local Communities
Supervise project; Facilitate workshops; Implement gardens; Evaluate project	Improve sanitation infrastructure	Communicate between project and schools, Compensate teachers for training; Recognize certification received for training	Donate some materials and supplies to school gardens	Actively participate in formation and transformation process

Parent Meetings

Etta Projects, along with the other project partners, have attended meetings at many of the participating schools to present the project to the students' parents. Parents need to be aware of the projects' messages so that they can reinforce and encourage the same healthy habits in the home. The project has been extremely well received and many parents have already signed up to participate in garden activities.

News Coverage

Word is out about the project as it has been shared on the local news stations and in the local newspaper. We are excited to bring a positive message about promoting healthy hygiene and sanitation habits to the community at large.

School Needs Assessment

Etta Projects and the local water cooperative have made visits to the various schools to record observations and establish a needs assessment of the sanitation infrastructure. The Water Cooperative has already started repairs of bathrooms and sinks at some of the schools.

Preparation of Materials

Etta Projects contracted Women's Without Limits, a former small-business women's project developed by Etta Projects, (see past success stories) to make all the tote bags that will be distributed to the 100+ teachers that will participate in the teacher development training program. The beautiful bags will be filled with the educational materials used at the training sessions.

The coordination of the various activities has created much enthusiasm around the program. The first workshop of the teacher development training component is scheduled mid March, and gardens will begin in early April after the rainy season passes.