You are what you eat!

Last Monday was a historical day for the GVI Health Program. It was the first time EVER Health Club was held at Mkwiro primary school. Mkwiro is a village on the island Wasini, right across the channel from Shimoni. It is a huge step forward that we now can start teaching life skill classes in Mkwiro, since the island is more conservative than the mainland. Topics such as early marriage, sex, STD’s, HIV and AIDS are something that the teachers aren’t that comfortable in teaching. However these are important subjects that GVI health volunteers are MORE than happy to take care of!

Gabrielle Gunners teaching  

As you might understand, we were super excited about our first Health Club class. Health Officer Kopa, field staff Jackson and I were shocked by the number of kids present! All of a sudden we had a classroom full of sixty five students. All of them ready and set to absorb anything we had to teach them. With a big smile on our faces we were ready to start teaching! It is always motivating to see such great interest from the students. 

Jackson Vukovic- Health  Field Staff

Mr. Kopa wrote the topic of the lesson on the board – how to lead a healthy diet!! Points such as a stable intake of nutrients, eating regularly and balancing good and bad food were brought up with the kids. Sugar, oil, excessive intake of dairy and fats were some of the things we discussed. We asked all the kids a question to get them thinking – why do people lead an unhealthy diet? Reasons such as finances, availability, laziness and addiction were put up on the board when brainstorming. The kids were listening intently when we talked about the long term side effects of leading an unhealthy diet. Consequences such as high cholesterol levels, heart attacks, stroke, weight gain and organ strain made the students sit quietly to hear what we had to say. These facts highlighted the importance of thinking about what you eat.

Health Club members listening keenly

We finished off the lesson by making the students draw and paint their own food pyramids that we had taught them during the lesson. At the end we received 65 beautiful pyramids demonstrating what they had learned. We happily walked out of the classroom knowing that this was the beginning of a new and rewarding collaboration with Mkwiro primary school.

Gabrielle Gunners – Health Project Volunteer

You are what you eat!