Today we went to Mpophomeni High School to teach three different classrooms. We picked partners and topics to teach back in the States. Mary Bette and I chose to teach on dental hygiene. As many of you know, this was right up my alley because my Ghana trip in 2009 was all about teaching 1500 children the importance of dental hygiene. The other topics covered were menstruation, exercise, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and smoking. The exercise group had two of the boys from APU, John and Matt, join in, scrubs and all, for extra help.
Here is a picture of Mary Bette and I with our hand-made posters on cavities and dental diseases:
We taught somewhere near 120 kids total (about 40 kids per classroom), ages 13 to 15. About 5 out of the 120 had ever been to a dentist. Which I find very interesting because South Africa has universal healthcare -so why wouldn't they go to a dentist if it's free? In response to that question my professor said, "Lord only knows." It's sad. I want them all to have beautiful smiles!
The kids loved the little pink pill that showed all the plaque on your teeth, they just thought it was hilarious :) We had a post-test at the end of our presentation, so whoever could answer a question got a toothbrush. So I think that was good incentive to have them listen but I wish that we were able to provide all of them a toothbrush. Here is a picture of our super great instructors. Sister Glenda Tuckell is on the left and Dr. Glenda Hall is on the right. They are wonderful and it is such a blessing to have them as our instructors :)
This picture was all of the girls in one of the classrooms that we taught, they were very cute and each one of them hugged us as we left.
Overall it was a great day. It is such a joy to work with children. I definitely think when I graduate school I will be working with pediatrics. Children always make me happy :) Here is one last picture of the other group teaching all the boys about exercise and staying healthy.
Thursday I will be going to a new HIV clinic with Kristina called Capresa. I have heard good things about the sisters that work there so I am excited to learn and work with them. Then on Saturday we will be going to a water park/aquarium in Durban during the day and then we will be going to a Rugby game in the evening. We will be seeing the Sharks vs. the Cheetahs -I can't wait, it sounds like it will be a blast! :) Hopefully will update again on Sunday with some pictures from our fun day in Durban!
Maybe when you get back home you can ask Dr. Hoyt and Eric's dentist Dr. Maldonado for toothbrush donations and send them to the school. That would be amazing. I wish you could have done that before you left. It just seems like you could get the toothbrushes easily ... but I wonder how much it would cost to send them. Love you sister.
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