YOU can help Zombodze: Way #1

Many of you have asked about how to get involved in/contribute to any of the projects we’re doing here in Swaziland. Thanks for asking— we’ll be posting some info about our projects currently needing funding or materials. To start things off, below is a very small-scale project we’ll be doing in Zombodze; you can be directly involved by helping us gather supplies and sending them to us for use and distribution.

There’ll be plenty more opportunities for partnering with us in the coming months (including tax-deductible Peace Corps Partnership charity opportunities), so please don’t feel any pressure whatsoever about this particular one—it’s just what’s on our plate this week.

If you’re interested or have an idea to help us provide these supplies, or if you have ideas about other supplies, email me directly: cooktimothy@hotmail.com. We can make this happen—and we’ll even take some pics for you…

Neighborhood Care Points: Activities for Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Target population: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)
Activity Needs: 350-400 (or more!) of the following items: toothbrushes, toothpaste (small tubes), toothbrush covers, sample-sized bars of soap, small plastic baggies (for the soap).

This is a small-scale project aimed at providing OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) aged 4-11 with some basic instruction regarding personal hygiene. The activities would be organized and presented by us at all the local Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs), which is where volunteer women cook meals each day for OVCs who aren’t getting enough food wherever they’re living.
Many of these kids are under 10 years old and do not yet know about the importance of hand-washing (they eat NCP meals with their fingers) or brushing their teeth. So our idea is simply to incorporate little informational activities into our regular visits to Zombodze’s NCPs—not every time, just every once in a while. We’re already working with these NCPs, so implementing this is simple.
In the tooth-brushing activity, OVCs (and volunteer mothers) would be taught how (and when) to brush their teeth, and would then receive a toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste of their own. Some toothbrush covers would be really nice to give them, but are not essential to the activity. In the hand-washing activity they’d learn to wash their hands—especially before eating with their fingers—and would then receive soap in little plastic storage bags to keep as their own. The NCPs would also be provided with soap and hand-washing basins, and the volunteers would be encouraged to make hand-washing a regular part of the OVC’s mealtime routine. These are not exciting handouts, I know, but believe me the kids would be thrilled—and more importantly, it would help to reduce the incredibly high rates of preventable sickness among these kids.
We’re working on the NCP’s food needs with WFP, and Unicef does education-based activities (vowels and number lessons)… but sanitation/hygiene informationals are nonexistent.
There are 7 NCPs in our chiefdom, each feeding an average of 50 kids per day… that means 350-400 kids.

Leave your catapults at home.