Small Steps For Cleaner Communities

Students in Padeng Primary School set up a local system for waste management - making a small step to improve the cleanliness of their school.

If anyone has every traveled to remote or rural communities, you would have likely noticed that many of these communities lack basic waste management systems. Waste management systems, ie trash collection and removal, is something that is easy to take for granted, but, in many of the communities in the Eastern Himalayas where we work, they lack the infrastructure to ensure trash is collected, removed, and taken care of in a sanitary manner. Below is a small anecdote on how Broadleaf can help students and community members create lasting change in their communities and schools.

After a CHHIP lesson about Waste Management, on of Broadleaf's School Health Activists (SHA), Nima, was approached by four enthusiastic students in class IV (elementary age) wondering how they can improve their school’s waste management facilities. Together, the students and Nima designed a composting system in order to make their school environment cleaner and safer. Although these particular students would soon move to a new school for Class V, they were dedicated to improving Padeng Primary School for future students and they independently fundraised the money they would need in order to purchase the materials needed to build the system!

With the help of Broadleaf, the CHHIP curriculum, and an incredible SHA, students begin to understand the importance of health and hygiene and how they are truly the agents of change in their community. Today, all students at Padeng benefit from a safer and cleaner school environment and can spend their days focused on their learning.

Broadleaf’s unique school health model empowers community members like Nima to become school-based health educators who work tirelessly to improve the health of local children. By helping students understand the importance of personal health, good hygiene, and a clean environment, Broadleaf School Health Activists enable children in under-resourced communities to stay in school and thrive.