A few weeks ago we had the privilege of being a part of a deworming campaign at a school in the Horna Ckasa neighborhood. Parasites are a huge issue for kids who live in the slums and out in the rural villages. At any given time around 80% of the kids living in Horna Ckasa have at least one, if not multiple, parasites living in their bodies. We have learned that these parasite infections are part of a vicious cycle that severely affects the health of these kids. The cycle goes something like this. Washing hands, fruits and vegetables prior to eating can be challenging for people living is areas without running water. Many times they are washing their hands and food in streams that are infected with both human and animal feces. They easily ingest parasites in this way. Parasites really lower the kids immune systems, making them susceptible to other illness. At the same time, almost all of these kids are extremely malnourished, also decreasing the effectiveness of their immune system. These factors can lead to a dangerous situation for the kids, as many find themselves in life threatening situations when they catch a common virus or get a bout of diarrhea. With weakened immune systems they simply can't fight off illness.
Three to four times a year, FH will go into the schools that they work with and pass out de-worming medicine to all the kids. They also educate the kids on proper hand washing and food cleaning. It was really fun to be apart of this campaign. Below are some pictures from our visit with a kindergarden class.
The kids were so excited to take their medicine.
Every child got one pill which is suppose to keep them parasite free for a month.
There were lots of smiles....
Until they tasted the mint flavored, chalky tablets that they had to chew! (For the record, each kid got a "bag" of juice to chase the bad taste away.)
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