HEALTHYCHILD, HEALTHYFUTURE INITIATIVE 2.0
Government Junior Secondary School Dabo, Kano State
Date: 9th October 2026
Registered via Luma: 10
Attended: 100+ students and teachers
Languages: English and Hausa
1. Introduction: We at Logos Circle Kano in partnership with DJFL FOUNDATION went to Government Junior Secondary School Dabo with a simple mission: to teach children the importance of handwashing, personal hygiene, disease prevention and healthy living.
We came prepared with educational materials, comic books, hand sanitisers, buckets, writing materials, snacks and a heart ready to serve.
But what we encountered reminded us that the challenges facing some children go far beyond hygiene.
We came to teach children how to protect their health. We left with a deeper understanding of how urgently their environment, wellbeing and basic needs require attention.
The condition of the school was deeply concerning. Buildings appeared severely neglected, learning materials were lacking, and many students did not have access to basic classroom necessities such as chairs. Some children attended school without shoes. During our interactions, some students shared heartbreaking accounts of going without food for days.
These were not stories we had travelled to hear. They were realities we encountered while trying to make a difference.
Because of government policies and restrictions, we were not permitted to take photographs of the school degrading structures. We respected that decision. Although this limited our ability to visually document the conditions, it did not erase what we witnessed or the responsibility we felt to respond.
This outreach became more than a health education programme. It became a moment of reflection on the realities many children face while trying to learn, grow and imagine a better future.
2. What We Did: Health Education in English and Hausa
Our team engaged approximately 100 students and teachers through interactive health education sessions delivered in both English and Hausa.
We chose both languages deliberately. Health education should not be limited by language, literacy level or background. Children deserve to understand the information that can help them protect themselves.
Our discussions covered:
**Proper handwashing:** Why it matters and how to practise it correctly.
**Personal hygiene:** Maintaining cleanliness and developing healthy daily habits.
**Environmental hygiene:** Keeping school and home environments clean.
**Disease prevention:** Understanding how everyday hygiene practices can reduce the risk of common illnesses.
**General wellbeing:** Encouraging children to pay attention to their health and seek help when they feel unwell.
**Healthy habits:** Helping students understand that simple, consistent actions can make a meaningful difference.
We encouraged the students to ask questions, participate and share what they knew. We wanted the lessons to be practical rather than merely something they heard and forgot after the session.
Every child deserves health information they can understand, remember and use.
3. Educational Materials and Essential Supplies
We believe education becomes more meaningful when people have the tools to put what they learn into practice.
During the outreach, we distributed approximately 100 copies of our HealthyChild, HealthyFuture comic book, designed to communicate hygiene lessons in an accessible, engaging and child-friendly way.
We also provided:
- Hand sanitisers to support hygiene practices.
- Buckets to assist with handwashing and other hygiene activities.
- Writing materials to support students’ learning.
- Snacks for the students.
- Financial support to the school to assist with immediate needs.
These contributions were modest compared with the scale of the challenges we observed. However, we hoped that each item would serve a practical purpose, whether helping a child learn, encouraging proper handwashing or providing a little relief during the school day.
The writing materials were particularly meaningful in a setting where learning resources were visibly inadequate.
We know that distributing supplies cannot resolve every challenge a school faces. But we also know that small acts of support matter when they respond to real needs.
4. Beyond the Outreach: Connecting Students to Healthcare
One of the most important lessons from this visit was that health education must be connected to access to care.
Teaching children how to prevent illness is essential. But when a child develops a fever, malaria symptoms or another health concern, the child must also have a pathway to appropriate medical attention.
To help bridge this gap, we connected the school with a nearby primary healthcare centre and shared relevant contact information for local health extension workers.
Our intention is to make it easier for the school to know where to seek assistance when students experience common health problems or require professional evaluation.
We also began working towards securing a first-aid box stocked with appropriate essential supplies for the school. This remains a follow-up commitment, subject to sourcing and provision of the necessary items.
The goal is to strengthen the school’s ability to respond to minor emergencies while ensuring that children who need further assessment or treatment are referred to qualified healthcare professionals.
We recognise that a first-aid box is not a substitute for a properly equipped clinic, and our longer-term hope is to help strengthen the connection between the school and accessible primary healthcare services.
5. The Reality We Cannot Ignore
Some moments from this outreach stayed with us long after the activities ended.
The condition of the buildings. The shortage of learning materials. The absence of basic classroom furniture. Children arriving without shoes. And the accounts shared by some students about going without food for days.
As a medical doctor, I understand how closely health is connected to the conditions in which people live, learn and grow. A child’s wellbeing is influenced not only by medical treatment but also by nutrition, hygiene, safety, education and the support available around them.
A child who is hungry may struggle to concentrate. A child without adequate learning materials faces additional barriers in the classroom. A child without access to clean water or basic hygiene facilities may be more vulnerable to preventable illness.
These challenges do not define the children. They describe some of the conditions those children are being asked to overcome.
And that distinction matters.
No child should have to choose between enduring hunger and concentrating in class. No child should be denied dignity because of the circumstances into which they were born. No child’s potential should be forgotten simply because their needs are less visible to the wider world.
We are sharing these reflections not to shame the school, its teachers or the public institutions responsible for education. We recognise that the people working within such environments may themselves be doing their best with limited resources.
We share them because children’s needs deserve attention, practical support and sustained action.
6. Why This Is What Community Action Means to Us
For Logos Circle Kano, this outreach brought the purpose of community action into sharper focus.
We talk about identifying winnable issues, organising people, building trust and turning shared concerns into practical solutions. At Government Junior Secondary School Dabo, those ideas became tangible.
We did not solve every problem facing the school. We could not rebuild its classrooms, provide every student with all the materials they need or eliminate food insecurity in a single visit.
But we listened. We taught. We distributed supplies. We established a connection with a nearby healthcare provider. We identified additional needs and began considering how to respond.
And we left knowing that our work must continue.
Community action is not about arriving with all the answers. It is about listening carefully, doing what we can, learning from what we encounter and bringing more people together to do what one group cannot accomplish alone.
This is how small interventions can become the beginning of sustained change.
7. Next Steps and Commitments
The outreach revealed several areas where further support and coordination are needed. Our next steps include:
1. First-aid support: Continue efforts to provide the school with a first-aid box and appropriate essential supplies.
2. Healthcare access: Maintain the connection with the nearby primary healthcare centre and local health extension workers.
3. Hygiene education: Encourage continued use of the lessons, comic books and hygiene supplies provided during the visit.
4. Learning materials: Explore opportunities to mobilise additional writing materials and other essential educational resources.
5. School wellbeing: Explore partnerships and support opportunities that address the children’s broader needs, including nutrition, hygiene facilities and access to basic learning resources.
6. Community partnerships: Engage individuals, organisations, health professionals and potential donors who may be able to support practical, sustainable interventions.
These are areas for continued work, not claims that every need has already been met. We will need collaboration, resources and the willingness to remain engaged beyond a single outreach.
8. Appreciation
We extend our sincere appreciation to the teachers and school community for engaging with us and allowing us to interact with the students.
We also appreciate everyone especially DJFL FOUNDATION who contributed resources, time, ideas, logistics and encouragement towards the HealthyChild, HealthyFuture initiative.
Every comic book shared, every hygiene supply distributed, every conversation held and every effort to connect a child to healthcare formed part of a collective commitment to making a difference.
We may not have been able to document the school environment through photographs, but we can document what we learned, the actions we took and the needs that remain.
9. Conclusion: We Must Do More
Our visit to Government Junior Secondary School Dabo was meaningful, but it was also humbling.
It reminded us that humanitarian work is not always comfortable. Sometimes, we arrive with a plan and encounter realities that challenge our assumptions about what a community needs most.
We went there to promote hygiene and healthy living. We left with a stronger appreciation of the connection between health, education, dignity and the everyday conditions in which children grow.
We are grateful for the opportunity to serve, but we know this is only one step.
There is more to teach, more to provide, more to learn and more work to do. We hope to build relationships that make continued support possible, because the children we met deserve more than a single day of attention.
They deserve safe and supportive learning environments. They deserve access to healthcare. They deserve the materials that help them learn. They deserve to be heard, protected and given a fair opportunity to thrive.
And they deserve a future in which their circumstances do not determine the limits of their dreams.
HealthyChild, HealthyFuture is more than a campaign. It is a commitment to the belief that every child’s health, dignity and potential matter.
We will continue doing what we can, inviting others to join us and working towards a future where healthier children can build stronger communities.
**From conversation → to coordination → to action → to impact.**
One child at a time. One school at a time. One community at a time.
Our Next Visit is Fahad Memorial International School, in another district in kano, we take our initial one school at a time
