project Summary

We want to raise £10,000 in order to re-create our health hygiene book, "A Germs Journey" in Gujarati. With the funds we raise we can supply the book and other free educational resources for children in heavily deprived areas of the Ahmedabad region in the state of Gujarat, India. It is vitally important that the book will be in Gujarati with a cultural context that the children will understand.  We are also asking the children to participate by creating a drawing to be included in the book!

The understanding of germs, the spread of infectious disease and the importance of hand-washing can be life saving skill for children in these areas.

The money raised will be used to create and produce 1000 books that will be distributed to community centres, schools, village libraries and healthcare facilities within the areas that are most affected by deprivation in order to educate children on the importance of hand washing hygiene.  Currently, a range of free educational resources are being created such as posters, songs, games and parent guides all to be free at the point of access.  The funds raised will also support the further development of "A Germ's Journey" Website ( www.agermsjourney.com ) to create a platform where teachers, healthcare workers and children from all around the world can have free access to "A Germ's Journey" educational resources in a number of languages.  Should the full £10,000 be raised a small group of experts will go to Ahmedabad and train teachers and healthcare workers on how to use "A Germ's Journey" educational resources with children.

Lastly, if the publishers decide to take on the book as a "for sale" publication all royalties will be transferred back into the project to create more free educational resources for children.

Meet the Team

Dr Katie Laird is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and Head of the Infectious Disease Research Group at DMU, who also has two young children. Katie has a keen interest in infection control and particularly public engagement for children on importance of health hygiene.  For more information about Katie visit her webpage

Professor Sarah Younie is the Co-director of the Institute for Education Futures, and mother of two children, with a lifelong commitment to education and innovation.  For more information about Sarah visit her webpage

Sapphire Crosby is a PhD Education student and first started working on the project in 2016 when, as an MA student, she was invited to assist with the data collection. She has since has joined the team as a doctoral student to work full time on the project

This project is being carried out in collaboration with:

1) Environmental Sanitation Institute Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram

2) The charity Manav Sadhna , Ahmedabad, who's mission it is to simply serve the underprivileged.

The story of A Germ's Journey

Katie (microbiologist) had a little boy who liked playing with the toilet and also had an aversion to washing his hands, she noticed there was a gap in the market for an interactive book on hand washing for young children.  She contacted Prof Sarah Younie a specialist in education because Katie was aware that the concept of the "invisible germ" for young children and how it affected their health was a complex one.  Sarah had the knowledge on how best to get these complex message across to children and the Germ's Journey team was born!

The original book and website with free games and colouring downloads for children was created, the response to these resources from school nurses and teachers was fantastic, so Katie and Sarah created free workshops which included a number of interactive activities for 3-5 year olds and worked in UK schools and those in India to train teachers and engage children.

Video of the Overview of the Project so Far:

Press Release of India Project

Why is the Project So Important?

The Germ's Journey team are passionate about this project, the success of the launches in the UK and India have highlighted the need for worldwide culturally relevant resources that children can relate to  on hand washing.  This is of particular importance for those children in countries where a lack of sanitation, flooding, disease and poverty are a normal way of life.  This can often result in diarrheal diseases that could be prevented.  Understanding "Germs" and hygiene practices can save lives!! The English book was useful in India however, shinny bathrooms, western toilets and café scenes were alien to many of the children.

Worldwide posters and a song with a number of translations are currently being constructed, however, without a platform from which theses resources can be freely accessed by teachers, nurses and children worldwide the impact of the project is limited.  We need to create a new platform which all can access and benefit from.

By donating to this project you will have a significance impact of children's lives including their education, hygiene practices and their health.

Where will the money go?

What will you spend the funding on if you hit your minimum?

• Graphic design of the book: £1200
• Production of a 1000 books to donate and shipping: £3100
• Safety certificate for the book: £700

Where will the money go if you hit your full target?

• Creation of a new website as platform for free Germ's Journey resources: £1800
• Training of teachers and healthcare workers and workshops for children in India: £2500
• Translation and formatting of all resources: £700

What will you do with extra funds if things really take off and you raise more than your target?

• Create books in a range of books with culturally relevant images and text
• Expand the resources created e.g. story cards, cartoon videos and books on antimicrobial resistance.

Rewards

Individual Sponsors

The first 200 pledges of £20 will receive a copy of the image created by the children connected to the Gandhi Ashram Hostel which will be featured in the book.For individuals that donate over £100 there will be a limited number of books to give away

Corporate Sponsors

• Donations of £500 and over will receive their company logo in the book as a sponsor of the project
• Donations of £1000 and over will receive their company logo in the book but also on the new website      as a sponsor which will be linked to the company website

Find us here

www.agermsjourney.com

Twitter:

@katielaird

@sarahyounie

Help us succeed!

• You don't need to give money to help us succeed! Please share this project with anyone you think would support us – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog.
• In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.
• And we know we said you don't need to give money to help us, but we'd love it if you did! Please sponsor us and help make this happen.