German NGO launches health project in Maguindanao school

MAGUINDANAO -- Hamodi and Salik, both Grade 2 pupils of an elementary school in Mangudadatu towneagerly participated in the launching on Thursday of a joint health and sanitation project of a German benefactor and Maguindanao’s provincial government.Some 200 school children all together washed their hands, along with Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and representatives of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) using antibacterial soap and safe water during the symbolic launching of the project in Daladagan Elementary School in Mangudadatu town.Dubbed Essential Health Care Program, the joint GIZ-provincial government initiative, which also involves the Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, aims to maximize dissemination to pupils in 158 local schools the importance of health and sanitation in keeping children’s good physical and mental condition.The GIZ is closely working with the office of ARMM’s education secretary, John Magno, in implementing the projects in beneficiary schools in Maguindanao province, which has 36 towns.Thursday’s initial launching of the project in Mangudadatu town in the second district of Maguindanao was only for 10 schools in the area and surrounding towns.The project will expand to other municipalities within this school year, according to provincial officials.Salik and his cousin, Alim, left for school early on Thursday, excited to participate in the launching of the project, capped off with the distribution by GIZ representatives of soap and hygiene kits to 10 schools in the surroundings of the provincial capital, Buluan town. Now we know that we can get sick if we don’t wash our hands before eating, after eating and after using the comfort rooms,” Alim told reporters in the Maguindanaon vernacular.Alim and his classmates were lectured by their teacher on the mechanics of the project and what sanitation is all about prior to Thursday’s activity in their school.Mangudadatu, in a brief message during the project’s kickoff rite, said sanitation and hygiene must be taught to Maguindanaon children extensively for them to stay health as they study from elementary through college.Mangudadatu said health problems, including malnutrition, are among the factors causing elementary pupils to poorly perform in schools. The provincial government acknowledges that and that is what motivates us to engage in activities meant to address those problems. We are thankful to the GIZ for implementing this project in Maguindanao,” he said.The GIZ is a service-oriented organization that specializes in international development and humanitarian outreach activities.The entity, known in English as the German Corporation for International Cooperation and whose main bases are in Bonn and Eschborn, Germany, operates in underdeveloped areas in more than a hundred countries.