‘Acting Against Worms’ - Festival in Uganda

April 09, 2010 {REL[65][news_related_project]VcZubOq2REL}

Jeff Teare and Rebecca Gould are currently in Uganda for the culmination of ‘Acting Against Worms’, a pilot health education project that has seen Theatrescience working with young people from nine schools across the Busia district. 

School-age children are a high-risk group for Bilharzia - a debilitating worm disease - and this project enables them to take control of their own health, using the medium of drama to educate, inform and share important messages about disease prevention.

Theatrescience’s last visit included workshops with students and teachers, introducing dramatic techniques that the young people used to create characters and scenarios.  Shortly after, participating students wrote stories that would form the basis of their performance pieces, which they sent to Theatrescience along with these pictures to illustrate their ideas.  They demonstrate the many daily activities that increase the risk of Bilharzia infection, and which the project aims to raise awareness of through the young people’s drama performances.  The schools will come together for a festival this Saturday, to share their work with other children, parents and local community members, and discuss their experiences of the project.  AAW will be fully evaluated, and if the results are promising it is hoped that this approach could be used with many more young people across Uganda.

Click on the thumbnails below to see some of the pictures illustrated by participating Ugandan students.

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