I wrote a grant to fund a Science Cafe for underprivileged children in Bengkulu City. The grant funded workshops for children who work on the street begging for money and those in children’s homes. My colleague changed the name of the banner to what he liked, but I like Science Cafe. His Bahasa to English needs a bit of work, but I cannot speak Bahasa. Students, who will be teachers, from the University of Bengkulu designed 2 activities for children to complete.

The first was teaching children about washing their hands. They started the activity with asking the children to put red glitter on their hands. They washed their hands with hand sanitizer first. This did not remove all the glitter. Then the children washed with soap and water and learned how to properly wash their hands. This boy volunteered to show everyone how it was done. He is showing how all the glitter is gone after using soap.

After they learned about the importance of hand washing, students made gel soap.

Second, they taught children how to make toothpaste at home and how to brush their teeth. The students made fake mouths to practice their brushing techniques. We could NEVER do this in the U.S.–but who needs a glue gun when you can use a candle!! I am not sure what kind of toothpaste they made, but I do not think I would put it in my mouth!!

The time went by so quickly! We said goodbye and all 20 children piled into this yellow van. Well nearly all of them–one sat in the door and the other stood holding on to the top. Yes. They did leave with the children just like this.