A non-governmental organisation, Healthy Living & Women Empowerment Initiative (HELWEI), has tasked parents and other handlers of children to provide activities that will enhance their well being.

The group said it had been championing activities in that regard in several communities through its ‘Kick Dirt, Hug Life’ Campaign.

Ebere Okey-Onyema, founder/executive director of HELWEI, while speaking with BDLife on the sideline of a recent event organised for children between the ages of 4-16 years on healthy life style, said.

Tagged ‘Clean Hands, Saves Lives: Spread the Word, Not the Germs’, the event provided the youngsters with the opportunity to hone their skills in singing, recitation and dancing.

Okey-Onyema said the programme was put together to teach the children about hygiene in order to stay healthy.

According to her, “since behavioural transformation is fundamental to any effort at change, the management of HELWEI hopes that by sowing the seeds of change towards a healthy lifestyle early in the lives of our children, it would produce results that will challenge our sense of complacency about doing little things that matter; such as brushing our teeth daily -morning and night, washing our hands after using the toilet, ensuring clean hands whenever we come in contact with dirt.”

To her, HELWEI intends to create awareness among the local communities, schools, orphanages, public institutions, and faith-based organisations about the importance of washing hands with soap and water or using a hand sanitiser as the simplest and most cost-effective way of promoting community well-being through prevention of respiratory illnesses, common cold, influenza and other infections.

In her remarks at the event, Nkeoma Abarikwu, admonished the children to remember to kick out anti-social behaviours in the same manner they were taught to kick out dirt and embrace healthy living.

There was a practical session with children on queue for on-site demonstration of how to wash their hands. This spiced up the event as the children were excited to participate. They were taken through the step by step of hand washing techniques.

Zebulon Agomuo

A non-governmental organisation, Healthy Living & Women Empowerment Initiative (HELWEI), has tasked parents and other handlers of children to provide activities that will enhance their well being.

The group said it had been championing activities in that regard in several communities through its ‘Kick Dirt, Hug Life’ Campaign.

Ebere Okey-Onyema, founder/executive director of HELWEI, while speaking with BDLife on the sideline of a recent event organised for children between the ages of 4-16 years on healthy life style, said.

Tagged ‘Clean Hands, Saves Lives: Spread the Word, Not the Germs’, the event provided the youngsters with the opportunity to hone their skills in singing, recitation and dancing.

Okey-Onyema said the programme was put together to teach the children about hygiene in order to stay healthy.

According to her, “since behavioural transformation is fundamental to any effort at change, the management of HELWEI hopes that by sowing the seeds of change towards a healthy lifestyle early in the lives of our children, it would produce results that will challenge our sense of complacency about doing little things that matter; such as brushing our teeth daily -morning and night, washing our hands after using the toilet, ensuring clean hands whenever we come in contact with dirt.”

To her, HELWEI intends to create awareness among the local communities, schools, orphanages, public institutions, and faith-based organisations about the importance of washing hands with soap and water or using a hand sanitiser as the simplest and most cost-effective way of promoting community well-being through prevention of respiratory illnesses, common cold, influenza and other infections.

In her remarks at the event, Nkeoma Abarikwu, admonished the children to remember to kick out anti-social behaviours in the same manner they were taught to kick out dirt and embrace healthy living.

There was a practical session with children on queue for on-site demonstration of how to wash their hands. This spiced up the event as the children were excited to participate. They were taken through the step by step of hand washing techniques.

Zebulon Agomuo