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Anemia Mania!

Free January/February, 2009

La Hora Chapina

All the Healthy Schools news that’s fit to print

Content:

Tricks of theTrade: Energyhighs and lows

The Cure: Fallingfrom above

Letter from theEditor: I think Ican

Healthy Recipes:Choco-berrysmoothie

Anemia “

occurs when thelevel of healthy red bloodcells (RBCs) in the body

becomes too low,” accord-

ing to an article posted onKidsHealth.org, which also provides information inSpanish.The article goes on to

state that “this can lead to

health problems becauseRBCs contain hemoglobin,which carries oxygen to the

body's tissues.” The disor-

der often results in fatigueand stress on bodily organs.The World Health Or-ganization classifies anemiain children under the age of 2 as a severe public health problem in Guatemala. Asof 2007, 56 percent of chil-dren under 2 in Guatemalawere anemic, as were 39.7 percent of those under theage of 5, according to astudy posted on Nutri-net.org, a web site dedicatedto information about nutri-tion in Latin America andthe Caribbean.While anemia can be ahereditary disorder, it canalso be caused by an irondeficiency. To prevent thissecond type of anemia, aniron-rich diet is of utmostimportance, especiallyamong young children andteenage girls beginningmenstruation. The newmonthly blood-loss in girlsgoing through puberty in-creases the amount of ironthey need to consume.Iron-rich foods includeiron-fortified grains andcereals, red meat, egg yolks,leafy green vegetables, yel-low vegetables and fruits, potato skins, tomatoes, mo-lasses, and raisins. Note thatdrinking tea or coffee with ameal significantly inhibits

the body’s ability to absorb

iron, while vitamin C pro-motes it.

La Hora Chapina

Publisher:

ShenyHuerta, shuerta@gt. peacecorps.gov

Editor:

KristinaCrawley, kcrawley@gonzaga.edu

Senior Reporter:

Kristina Crawley,kcrawley@gonzaga.edu

La Hora Chapina

is anewsletter dedicated to providing PC Guate-mala volunteers withinformation regardingthe Healthy Schools program.

La HoraChapina

welcomesletters to the editor.

The Smack Down!

Happy New Year 2009 andmuch success in your en-deavors to improve the livesand health conditions onhundreds of Guatemalanstudents!

It’s time to renew the

bonds established with your counterparts and parents.Begin home visits withthem, check school condi-tions, do teachers trainings.This recommendation isespecially for the group of colleagues leaving this year.Sheny and I will start visit-ing some of you in January,in preparation for your closeof service and follow-up.Visiting the schools prior toour visits will make you fa-

miliar with the school’s

status and make the orienta-tion to the teachers and par-ents easier.Seventeen PCTs have been accepted and invited tocome to the Healthy SchoolsProject this year! Five of them are men. They arrivedthe 7

of January. Please join me in welcoming themand make them feel en sucasa!

What is it and how can we prevent it?

Tricks of the Trade with Seño Katie

caffeine high? You can dothe same as above (the exer-cise wakes them up), or if

there’s no chance (i.e. they

are so tired they are staringat an imaginary doughnuthovering six inches fromtheir face), gather them in asnug circle on the floor andread a story instead of your lesson.Keep

Valentine Mata- sanos

in your bag just in

case. Don’t worry about

missing an entire lesson

because there’s no sense in

trying to cram new informa-tion into their brains when

they’re too distracted to ab-

sorb it.

It’s okay if they already

know it by heart as long asthey like the story, plus itgives them a nice simplereminder about microbios.

Make the characters’ voices

extra goofy and let themfinish lines for you to keeptheir attention.Try this out when the

kids just can’t seem to focus

their brains and before youlose yours altogether.*Silent ball is a simplegame. The kids sit on their desks and pass the ball (or any other safely passableobject) to each other in theclassroom without making asingle sound. If they makenoise, they have to sit intheir seat and the ball is nolonger passed to them. Thisis also a good game to prac-tice self-control and helpswith the ever-so-difficultconcept of raising your handand waiting to be called on before speaking.

Katie Noren-Yeagle is a Healthy Schools PCV living in Aguacatán, Huehu-etenango. She is a graduateof Linfield College inMcMinnville, Ore. with a

bachelor’s degree in early

childhood and elementaryeducation.

We’ve probably all noticed

that elementary kids areusually more radioactivethan tranquillized, but thereare days when the kids are just beat. Either way, the

kiddoes just can’t pay atten-

tion.

So what do we do?

The best way to deal is tounderstand what mood thekids are in

before

startingthe lesson; read your stu-dents. For example, if they

are acting like they’re high

on Red Bull, have them runaround the school a coupletimes (do it with them!) andthen play silent ball* for aminute afterwards.This releases some en-ergy and then refocuses their brains. All this should onlytake 5-7 minutes and is to-tally worth it in order to getthem back on track, even if you have to cut the lesson alittle short.And what if they arecoming

off

their morning

“There’s no

sense in trying to cram new informationinto their brains

when they’re

too distracted

to absorb it.”

Página

La Hora Chapina

The Cure

One day last year, several of my teachers were working on repairing the roof of the school, replacing some lamina. Afew minutes in, I heard a loud crash and looked up to see one of the teachers looking through a huge hole in the roof,shouting that Profe Giovani had fallen through to the ground approximately 25 feet below. I rushed into the classroom tofind Profe sitting upright on the floor with two other teachers pulling him to his feet.Though stunned he was able to stand and was soon walking around. His scrapes were treated with water, iodine and bandages, but the teachers were convinced he was in shock. To treat this they filled there mouths with a water/liquor mixture and then sprayed him with it. A local healer was then brought to the school and performed some chiropractic procedures to help with pain he was having in his hip. The next day he went to the health center to be seen and luckilyall was well.General first aid recommendations would be that the victim not be moved until it was determined there were no seri-ous injuries. After a fall of a similar magnitude, the victim should receive professional medical attention as soon as pos-sible.

-Kristina Crawley

*If you’ve experienced unusual or uncommon first aid practices here in Guatemala, send an email to Kristina Crawley

at kcrawley@gonzaga.edu. Did it seem to work? Why did they do what they did?

Comparing traditional remedies in Guatemala with common First Aid practices