It was a theatrical scene, a performance aimed at demonstrating the dangers of smoking to young children. Presented by Madyapadma Student Journalistic Club in an engaging style, the show, combined with several games, gave a straightforward message to children: Stay away from smoking. The games were packaged in attractive and inviting ways, dispensing with a preaching style, to show children the consequences of smoking. The first game taught children about the body’s respiratory organs.
They were enthusiastic to take part in another game that involved searching for hidden treasures and was aimed at introducing the dangers of smoking and ways to kick the bad habit. The next game saw children being taught more about the diseases caused by smoking. Children were then asked to paint a replica of a healthy human lung and then others painted a rotten lung. They then played parcel games, with each parcel containing anti-smoking messages. Putu Indah Dianti Putri, one of campaigners, explained that all activities were expected to inform young children about developing smoking habits and the damaging impacts such habits would have on their futures.
Prior to holding an anti-smoking campaign, the group interviewed all 25 elementary school students who participated in the games. The survey was aimed at establishing the smoking habits of the participants’ families and their knowledge about the dangers of smoking. The results shocked the interviewers. The survey revealed that 92 percent of respondents admitted to having families or friends who were active smokers. “It means that these kids are vulnerable to all the adverse impacts of smoking because all this time they have become passive smokers,” said another member of the campaign team, Putu Adnya Sawitri.
Unfortunately, none of the respondents had any knowledge of the health risks associated with passive smoking and only 8 percent of respondents had an adequate understanding of the dangerous substances contained inside a cigarette. This anti-smoking campaign was held as a follow up to the group’s achievement as the winner of a health campaign proposal competition organized by Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University’s school of medicine. “The methods in our anti-smoking campaign comprise a series of performances, games and videos,” Indah explained. The activities were recorded and at the end of the campaign all participants were given copies of the video recording.
“The children can watch the video of the games with their parents and siblings at home, expanding the reach and coverage of this campaign,” Indah added. “The games were fun and we were happy but scared,” I Gusti Ngurah Dion Prayoga Putra, an elementary school fifth grader, said after participating in the games. The campaign represented a significant effort to reach out to young children as the number of child smokers in Indonesia increases sharply. Indonesia has one of the world’s largest smoking populations. A recent survey conducted by the Udayana University’s public health school showed that 34 percent of 192 respondents in Denpasar were teenage smokers. Approximately 60 percent of these respondents were junior high school students.
source : bali daily
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