A team from non-profit organisation SHARE flew with MAF to Atauro Island to help students lead healthier lives.
Teachers have noticed a big increase in handwashing at remote schools, thanks to a healthy message delivered by non-government organisation SHARE.
The team from Services for Health in Asian African Regions (SHARE) were able to reach Atauro Island in a 15-minute flight from the Timor-Leste capital Dili.
Their smooth journey with MAF pilot Lungpinglak Domta enabled SHARE to spend three days training schoolteachers to maintain a healthier learning environment in the primary schools.
SHARE field officer Octavio Corte-Real explained the purpose of their visit.
“We aimed to provide health education training to the basic schoolteachers from Atauro Island so that after the training they could share knowledge and information with their students about the essentials of health training,” said Mr Corte-Real.
“We targeted basic primary schools on Atauro Island, and we did orientation for 14 schoolteachers from 12 primary schools.”
Manuel Filipe, a schoolteacher from Biqueli Basic School located in the northeast of Atauro, explained how health education training significantly transformed students’ behaviours towards health.
“One simple observation I noticed that before the programme was implemented, the students did not know how to maintain hygiene and practice hand washing before having school lunch,” said Mr Filipe.
“But this programme has had a positive impact on their behaviour, and now they have undergone profound behavioural change by practising hand washing before having school lunch, doing cleaning service, and practising waste management at school.”
...they have undergone profound behavioural change by practising hand washing...
Atauro is only 25 kilometres from Timor-Leste’s mainland, but a boat crossing could take up to three hours.
Mr Corte-Real explained how MAF helped them to conduct their activity on the island.
“It’s very challenging for us to access boat transportation in the rainy season because we have to cross perilous deep-sea waves, and boat transportation is difficult to operate during this season,” he said.
“We contacted MAF, and they were able to provide us with a flight that took us only 15 minutes to reach Atauro Island, and it’s very timesaving for us.”