Project RISHI at UC Davis
Rural India Social & Health Improvement
Hygiene Day
We hosted an annual “Hygiene Day” at two schools run by our partner NGO, READ. Our team created a variety of hands-on activities to teach children core hygiene and health-science concepts.
Some examples of successful games include Mosquito Freeze Tag, Treasure Hunt, & Why Use Toothpaste. The teachers have now been trained to lead these activities, making this project sit in the evaluation stages.
Hygiene Curriculum
We developed a hygiene sanitation curriculum tailored for each standard at the local schools run by our partner NGO READ. Each teacher has been trained in the curriculum & has ready access to supplies needed to conduct the hands-on games in each module.
Every game comes with a discussion section to enforce core health sanitation concepts. This project has been successfully developed & is now in the evaluation stages.
Menstruation Education
We recognized that in rural settings young girls have little access to knowledge about puberty and menstruation. To combat this problem, we created a comprehensive curriculum for 5th standard girls, as well as girls residing in the local community hostel. By combining interactive games & discussions, we targeted the stigma associated with periods and discussed common myths associated with puberty.
Through this project we aim to create an open and safe environment to ask questions, discuss with scientific accuracy what happens during puberty, and dispel any and all myths. Our central goal is to explain that periods are not taboo nor are they impure but rather natural changes in a woman’s body as she grows up.