Children's Storybook to Promote Positive Hygiene Behaviour

Aa aa choo age

3-6

POSITIVE HYGIENE BEHAVIOUR PROMOTION CAMPAIGN

It is a cloudy day, and Ala could hear the swish swish swish sound of the wind. Ala sits at the beach and watches the big waves crashing at the beach.

Suddenly Ala hears somebody playing with the waves.

She looks out and sees a little boy out in the sea.

“Come out” Ala says to the boy, “the sea is too rough today!”

“Hello, my name is Aa aa choo” says the boy coming towards Ala. “You seem very sad, what is the matter?”

“Aa aa choo is a funny name” says Ala and shakes his hand. “Yes, I am very sad because my best friend, Layan has been sick for a week now, and next week is our school’s Sports Meet and I am afraid she might stay sick till then”.

“Oh that seems to be sad, what do you mean by sick?

I have never heard that word before” remarks Aa aa choo.

“What? You have never heard of the word “sick” Ala says surprised. “But your name is the sound which comes from sneezing and coughing, and you cough when you are sick!”

“Really, I have never been sick and have never met anyone who has been sick” adds Aa aa choo. “If you like you can come and meet my mother; maybe she can help your friend, Layan”.

Ala and Aa aa choo jumps into the sea. What a lovely sight it is thought Ala. She sees so many coloured fishes and pretty corals.

After a while, they came across a beautiful castle made from sea shells.

“Mommy” calls out Aa aa choo. “Come meet my friend Ala, she needs your help”.

“What’s the problem, my dear?” asks Aa aa choo’s mom. “How can I help?” Ala is awed by how beautiful Aa aa choo’s mom is, she looks exactly like a fairy.

“My best friend has been sick for some time now, so I want to help her get better”.

“That is very sweet of you dear” said Aa aa choo’s mom. “I will tell you the secret of how to avoid being sick all the time”.

“It is very simple; you just need to learn the 4 steps of hand washing with soap”.

Step “Wet your hands with

1

water and apply soap”

Step

2

“Rub your hands together, even get between those fingers for 20 seconds. Just sing the “happy birthday song” twice and it will add up to 20 seconds”

Step

3

“Rinse well with running water”

Step

4

“Dry your hands”

“See it’s easy, and since the underwater people started washing hands with soap after sneezing and coughing, after going to the toilet, after playing outdoors, and before eating, people stopped getting sick”.

“Mommy why is my name Aa aa choo?”

“When people used to get sick before, we used to hear aa aa choo sound a lot. But by the time you were born we have discovered the secret of washing hands with soap. And we named you Aa aa choo to show that as long as we wash our hands with soap, it will keep us away from sickness”.

“Thank you for helping me Aa aa choo’s mom. But I better go back now, my mom would be looking for me” says Ala. Ala hugs Aa aa choo’s mom good bye and start swimming away with Aa aa choo.

“Hope your best friend gets well soon” calls out Aa aa choo’s mommy.

By the time Ala comes back to the beach it has started to rain heavily. She could hear her mom calling out to her from their home.

“I better get back inside now” she says to Aa aa choo.

“Thank you so much for helping me and it was good to meet your mom”.

“I am glad I could help you, it’s good to meet you and when Layan gets better I would like to meet her too” says Aa aa choo.

“Sure, she would love to see you, I will go and tell her and all my friends of your secret. See you, bye”.

Ala runs home. “Mommy I’m here, please can we call Layan? I have to tell her something big”.

“Sure you can call her, but first tell me where you were? Were you out playing in the rain?”

“No mommy, I had the greatest adventure of my life” says Ala happily.

Then Ala calls Layan and tells her about meeting Aa aa choo, his mom and most of all the secret of washing hands with soap.

“I will start washing my hands with soap” Layan tells Ala, “So that I will not get sick so easily again”.

Classroom Activity1 Instructions for teacher: Write the following on the board, so that the students could copy down and do the matching exercise.

Can you match the four steps of hand washing with their correct number?

Rinse well with running water

1

Dry your hands

2

Rub your hands together, don’t forget your finger nails

3

Wet your hands with water and apply soap

4

Classroom Activity2

Instructions for teacher: The purpose of this exercise is to show students, how easy it is for germs to spread through the hands of one person to another.

At the beginning, teacher applies some disco powder to her palms of the right hand in a way that the students would not notice.

Then she announces that it’s a custom to shake hands and say “assalam allaikum” when we meet each other and the other child to respond saying “va-alaikummu salam” while shaking the hands back.

Teacher instructs the students to properly shake hands with children as much as possible and she herself also gets involved in the activity.

While the teacher is shaking hands she also acts as if she’s sneezing into her right palm.

When the teacher has shook hands with around 15 students she asks all the students to stop.

Then she asks if the students could observe anything glittering on their palms.

Now the teacher explains to them, if for example the glitter is a germ causing a disease, for example diarrhea, how easy it is for the germ to pass from one person to another through the hands. Even in this exercise at the beginning, only the teacher has the germ but, through her, by the time the exercise is over about 15 students have caught the “germ”.

At the end, teacher stresses on the importance of washing hands with soap and goes through the 4 steps with the students.

Step 1: Wet your hands with water and apply soap.

Step 2: Rub your hands together, even get between those fingers for 20 seconds.

Just sing the “happy birthday song” twice and it will add up to 20 seconds.

Step 3: Rinse well with running water.

Step 4: Dry your hands.

© United Nations Children’s Fund, Maldives, 2011 All rights reserved. This publication may be freely reviewed, quoted, reproduced or translated, in part or in full, provided the source is acknowledged. The publication may not be sold or used in conjunction with commercial purposes without the prior written approval of UNICEF. Contents and design by domus pvt. ltd.

The mention of specific companies or certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by UNICEF in preference to others of similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted. UNICEF does not warrant that the information contained in this publication is complete and correct and shall not be liable for any damages incurred as a result of its use.

Collaborating partners: