Dental Health in Chaquijyá

I am in the middle of my third week at the Manna site in Sololá. I have spent the past week and a half serving in Chaquijyá, a 30-minute trip from Sololá in the microbus. Lucy and I have been teaching lessons on oral health to the students of Central, one of the two primary schools in Chaquijyá. My Spanish abilities are limited to say the least, and I have no previous experience in teaching, so it is safe to say my experiences thus far have pushed me far outside of my comfort zone. I am so appreciative of the sweet schoolchildren and teachers that accept my broken sentences and are so receptive to our lessons.

My research project focuses on the current state of dental hygiene among schoolchildren in Chaquijyá, so I was very excited about the opportunity to teach classes on a related topic. During my brief time here it has become evident that the currently poor state of oral health is a health concern on many people’s minds. When Ginny Savage, one of the supervisors at the Manna site, asked the directors of the Chaquijyá schools what services they would like to see Manna provide, one director requested the distribution of toothbrushes to all of the schoolchildren. Upon interacting with the schoolchildren, I immediately noticed the poor condition of their teeth– beyond the significant discoloration of their teeth, many children have numerous teeth that exhibit visible decay.

To my surprise, the children of the classes we have taught already know a significant amount about proper dental hygiene practices – most are familiar with the generally accepted practice of brushing teeth twice a day (morning and night) with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Given more time, it would be interesting to investigate why, if not due to a lack of knowledge, poor oral health is the norm among children in the Chaquiya community. Is it primarily due to a lack of resources (toothbrushes, toothpaste, access to dental care), excessive sugar consumption, or some combination of the two?

I truly hope that, even though our time here is very short, the classes we teach will make a positive and lasting impact on the dental hygiene practices of some of the students and the teachers.

Dental Health Class with the 2nd graders

- Becca, Visage Student

Making Memories

This is a drawing of my two favorite girls from the first time I went to Cooperativa in Chaquijyá. Both of these girls were not in the class that we taught, but were eager to hang out with us. The class that we taught this day was on the importance of dental health. I was amazed at the amount of 6 and 7 year olds that already had rotted out teeth. We used a few examples with an egg and an apple to represent what happens to the tooth and its enamel when you don’t brush your teeth. The kids were incredibly receptive and were able to identify what foods and drinks are good and bad for your teeth along with the reason that they are bad for your teeth. This class was a little insane because school was cancelled the previous day, causing us to teach two sections of first graders together. However, the kids were still able to take a lot from the lesson and I was glad that we could give them handouts to take home on how to brush their teeth. I hate that we couldn’t purchase enough toothbrushes in order to give one to each child at the school, but hope there is a way that could be done so in the future.

This drawing in particular is of a photo I took of two little girls insisting on having a photo shoot. They had such colorful little personalities, pulling their friends in the photos or requesting to have their solo shots. I loved the outgoing and carefree spirit of these little girls and it breaks my heart that they will probably never have the opportunities that I have. This day was a great first day of breaking out of comfort zones and trying to make connections.  

- Nicole, Visage Student

Initial Programs

This trip has been one of a kind so far. Although I haven’t been out of the country many times, I already know this is a trip to remember. Guatemala is culturally such a different place; it’s awesome, interesting, and confusing all at the same time. The people are probably the best part for me. I love how the indigenous people are dressed in the traditional trajes, and they are incredibly friendly for the most part. It reminds me a lot of growing up in the South, because everyone smiles whenever they pass by. I also really appreciate how open most people are. However, there have been some instances when, especially older women, seem a little distant and shy from us. I attribute this a lot to the trust factor that we talked about a lot this semester. Maybe the women simply don’t feel comfortable with us, because they don’t know us or speak the same language as us, therefore, the trust is lacking. I see a lot of the things we discussed in class (Culture, Health, and Development in Guatemala) come through in the society around us.

The customs and traditions here are also very different to those that I am used to, and it has been a great experience going outside my comfort zone to learn how people here live, what foods they eat, and practicing their language. I like some of the customs a lot, and love most of the food, but there have been some things that I don’t love, but I’m sure there are also things that the people here don’t like about me as well.

It was really awesome getting to teach for the first time today! The first graders were very interested in learning, and they loved to color! I loved seeing their reactions when I told them they were right, or said “perfecto” when they brought a colorful paper up to me to check. I really do think that we taught the kids a lot about oral health, and how and when to brush their teeth. Although it was hard for some of the kids to understand, I think for the most part they get that sugar is bad for your teeth!

One of my favorite moments today was after we finished teaching when the teacher asked us to go over the alphabet and pronunciation of letters in English with her. It was so encouraging to see her motivation in learning English. Overall it was a great morning in Central, and I can’t wait to go back with our new and improved lesson plan on Tuesday. 

Recess at Central

- Lucy, Visage Student

Spring Break!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that blog updates on this particular page may decrease this month... but don't you worry. We've got four awesome groups coming from universities in the States to spend a week with us in Chaquijyá:

Vanderbilt - March 2-9
UGA & UNC - March 10-17
UAB - March 17-24

The great thing is, you're going to hear about their experiences straight from them! If you notice at the top of the blog, there are tabs with each university's name on it. We will have a couple of them post almost every day of their stay here, so be sure to check back daily for updates on their projects, culture shock, and exciting adventures.

To give you a brief introduction to what's going down this month:

Vanderbilt will be helping us re-launch a community garden in Cooperativa, working alongside a local organization named CEIBA. They will spend two days in the garden and two days giving nutrition charlas in each of our primary schools.

UGA and UNC will be doing Bottle School related work. Unfortunately, since the bottle school is yet unfinished, they will no longer be painting the new addition as planned. Instead, Esteban is putting them to work on painting other classrooms of the school. Each of the groups will spend two days painting. On the other two days, they will be doing recycled art projects with the kids! We will be making toothbrush/toothpaste holders out of recycled plastic bottles...

Which leads us to UAB! UAB will be providing students with fluoride, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Along with providing these materials, they will also be leading dental workshops.  However, we will be doing this in FOUR of the neighborhoods of Chaquijyá! We are super excited to be expanding our reach to Yaxon and Xibalby for this project. We just met with the director of Yaxon Primaria today (his name is Juan), and he was extremely nice and well-organized. I'm glad that we will able to work with him and his students.

As you can see, we are putting these college kids to work! I'm so excited for all of the projects we are doing with each of these groups. It's even more encouraging to see how they all somewhat relate to each other. Recently, Jess posted about Escuelas Saludables, which is a certification we are trying to help Cooperativa and Central Primarias to achieve. All of these projects ultimately help us in attaining this certification at both schools. As Jess mentioned, the community garden will help students (and the community) learn more about leading a nutritious lifestyle. The recycled art programs (albeit, temporarily) aid with trash disposal. Furthermore, the toothbrush holders will be perfect for the toothbrushes and toothpaste the students receive the following week... which is also a requirement for Escuelas Saludables. Each student must have these items at school and use them each day after snack.

Not only do our college Spring Breakers have the opportunity to volunteer their time on cool short-term projects, but all of them contribute to one of the larger programmatic goals of our organization: the Escuelas Saludables certification. I'd like to say that Ja & I planned it this way on purpose... but I think sometimes things just happen work out for the best. :)

So, here's to Spring Break! We thank you in advance for all the help you're giving us, and we look forward to making some great memories together. See you soon!

-Nicole