Seed Of Nations International Centre’s The Nehemiah Project -Partnering With The LiceMeister® Comb
This year’s Mission Trip to Jayuya, Puerto Rico 2019 provided education on eradicating head lice through combing with the Licemeister® Comb. Proper techniques for combing out nits and head lice were communicated to provide a safe and effective methodology for combating head lice infestations.
Letter to NPA from Seed of Nations
DATE: May 31, 2019
TO: Deborah Z. Altschuler —President National Pediculosis Association®, Inc.
FROM: Apostle Evelyn L. Cobb Seed Of Nations International Centre
RE: 2019 Jayuya, Puerto Rico Trip Summary Report
FEBRUARY 19, 2019 – Day 3 – We traveled to the Escuela Segunda Unidad Antonia Serrano Gonzalez, an Elementary and middle school located in the Barrio Mameyes in the province of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. We met with the school Principal to go over the presentation, specifically its framework, our objectives, the resources we needed, the students that would be targeted, and the schedule.
Our goals were as follows:
- Teach the students about the pediculosis (lice):
- Lifecycle
- How it reproduces
- How it spreads
- Prevention
- Knowing if you have them
- Treatment, using the LiceMeister comb, technique, and lice shampoo
- Removing the stigma and/or shame associated with it All from a place of good hygiene and personal care
- Give a live demonstration on the removal of the pediculosis using the LiceMeister comb, lice removal technique, and lice shampoo.
- Empower the students and parents by giving them the necessary tools provided by the NPA-Headlice Organization, to combat this problem.
- Provide Lice Pack to all students containing:
- LiceMeister Comb
- Lice shampoo o Shower cap
- Critter Cards—translated to Spanish
- Spanish Lice Coloring Book
- Lice handouts—for home
- Crayons
We worked with students from pre-kindergarten on up. The school nurse sat in all the presentations, the teachers for each class, and we had some High School students along with their teacher in attendance. The goal of having the High School students in attendance was so that they could later teach their peers by sharing what they learned during the presentation and share the products with them. We were really excited about the High School students attending.
We received positive feedback from Teachers, the Principal, Nurse, and Students. They found the presentation informative and the live demonstration extremely helpful. They were appreciative of not only how we presented the information but how we made it interactive for the children. So much so that at the end, one of the students came up to me and invited us to return [this is the student I am hugging in one of the pictures]. At the end of the presentation, the Principal shared how others had conducted presentations, but this was the first time that tools were actually brought to help combat the problem. She shared how difficult it is to find these types of products, but due to the poverty level, purchasing these types of products is often difficult for the parents. Later that afternoon, we met some of the parents who said that their children came home and right away said, “Mom, I need you to wash my hair with this shampoo and then use this comb to get the lice out of my hair. I’ll show you how they did it and you need to read through this information they gave me.” Later we ran into some of the students who had indicated that they gave their mom the tools and handouts as instructed. We were touched by the children and their comments.
As we progressed with the meeting, we learned about some of the challenges this particular school is currently facing. Last year, it was one of the schools that had been selected to close by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. Thankfully, the parents and the community rallied together and prevented the department from closing the school. The reality is that if this school were to close, the nearest schools would require additional travel times of 30 minutes to an hour and a half for the students depending on the grade they would attend and where they live; the accessibility of their homes (road-wise) and transportation being the primary reasons for the extra time.
FEBRUARY 20, 2019 – Day 4 We arrived at the school at 8:30 AM to set everything we needed for the presentation. We set-up the laptop, projector and camera. Apostle Evelyn and Dr. Maria (who became our model for the lice presentation) prepared the kits that would be given to each student.
We were successful in accomplishing our objectives. She was successful in engaging the students and allowing them to contribute, which made the students active participants in the class. They asked questions and shared their ideas. We were able to teach the complexities involved with pediculosis and deliver them into simple, easy to understand concepts that they were able to grasp quite effortlessly. We have to say that we were pleasantly surprised at the knowledge they already possessed about lice and at their quick ability to grasp what we taught. We were able to teach them the ins and outs about lice in a manner that they clearly understood. In the end, the students left empowered and confident that what they learned would help them deal with lice.
Seed Of Nations International Centre-The Nehemiah Project
336 McKee Street Batavia, IL 60510
www.SeedOfNationsInternationalCentre.org