By Miyako Hamasaka | PR Manager
Global Hand Washing Day
Global Hand Washing Day is celebrated on October 15th each year to raise awareness that washing one’s hands with soap is a key means of preventing hygiene related diseases – helping prevent everything from diarrhea to colds and flus. This year, JEN celebrated Hand Washing Day with Za’atari Camp’s youth. JEN’s team centered their messages around the most important times to wash hands with soap, which is to say: before eating, after using the toilet, and after playing or touching dirty things.
The day was real fun! Kids seem to learn better by being engaged and active rather than by sitting still listening to classes. The kids really liked the game in which their hands were ink-stamped with colorful pictures of germs. The next part of the activity was to blindfold three kids at a time and have them use soap and water to wash the germs off their hands. The one who got the most ink off his or her hands or who demonstrated the best hand washing technique was declared the winner!
Other highlights of the day included walking tours by staff members dressed as the Global Hand Washing Heroes in JEN’s camp districts. This live show has demonstrated to be a very effective approach to visually disseminate hygiene messages while playing with the kids. The disguised staff members have also showed freedom from social conventions or traditional ideas for being unrecognized animators while spreading the hygiene messages in the camp districts.
Distribution of winter clothes in Azraq Refugee Camp
Temperatures have started to drop significantly after sunset as winter is approaching in Jordan. JEN has been planning to distribute clothes in the Azraq Refugee Camp and went through a lot of negotiation and coordination with the UNHCR and other humanitarian aid organizations operating in the camp to make this happen.
Prior to the actual distribution, JEN’s distribution team opened the bales and boxes sent to us by UNIQLO and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), sorted out the clothes by type and size, and prepared individual packages for men, women, children and babies. For this task, JEN secured a sufficient number of Syrian laborers, mostly vulnerable women, residing in the camp through an ‘Incentive-based Volunteers’ program run by another organization in the camp.
From the 9-12th and on the 19th of November 2014, JEN distributed the winter clothes sent by our corporate and organizational donors to the whole population of Azraq Refugee Camp. The vast majority of the refugees responded positively to the distribution. A Jordanian lady from another organization who supported JEN staff during the distribution at the Replenishment Site said, “These clothes are from a Japanese brand, right? They are very nice, and I wish if I could get one of these packages for myself!” JEN hopes that the distributed clothes help the refugees mitigate the impact of the harsh winter they must face while they stay at the Azraq Camp.
Supported by your donation, JEN strives to lessen the burden and meet the needs of the 12,000 asylum seekers residing in the Azraq Refugee Camp.
Hygiene promotion sessions for parents and teachers’ associations (PTAs)
This fall, JEN’s hygiene promotion team and trained teachers were active in conducting hygiene education sessions for parents and teachers of school children. Education for PTAs is important because parents and teachers are responsible for providing the children with a healthy and clean environment at home and at school.
To organize the event, our team contacted school principals and teachers who then willingly collaborated with us by contacting the parents of their schools’ students. Aiming to have the greatest number of participants, JEN’s hygiene promoters also distributed invitations notes directly to students. To our delight, the turnout surpassed our expectations and what’s more, we were extremely pleased to see fathers and other members of the community we had not attempted to reach directly attending our sessions.
One of the main take-home points of JEN’s sessions was focused on the necessity of providing children with a healthy breakfast and overall good nutrition. A common problem is that children too often come to school without eating breakfast and then are compelled to eat unhealthy, sometimes outright unsafe foods bought from unlicensed vendors.
JEN hygiene promotion team and trained teachers will continuously conduct hygiene education sessions and discuss with PTAs in the aim of improving children’s health.
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