The Hip Hop Health project and celebrating National Water Week/ World Water Day!

The final day of National Water Week was World Water Day! We thought it would be a great opportunity to show you just what our Science Spaza clubs learned about raising awareness on water and health as part of the Hip Hop Health initiative!

Three Science Spaza clubs (Emzamweni Science Club; Mehlokazulu Science and Sobantu Science Club) from the uMgungundlovu district in Pietermaritzburg had a chance to learn all about water and health in a Hip Hop Health research project by Science Spaza supported by the Wellcome Trust. As part of the project they conducted research activities in and around their communities dealing with water-borne diseases, water-washed diseases and water quality.

The activities included:

• Testing water sources near their communities for E. coli to get an indication of water-borne diseases present in their water,
• Surveys to determine their peers’ general knowledge on water-washed diseases, and
• Determining the water quality of water sources by counting the number of small organisms living in the water using the miniSASS method (the more small organisms, the better the water quality).

The students then had the exciting task of taking their newfound knowledge and using it to create Hip Hop songs about water and health! They got together with local musicians to create the music, and, once they had perfected their lyrics, they performed their songs at an event at the Hexagon Theatre for their parents, communities and South African Hip Hop sensation iFani. The songs were recorded live and have been put onto an album, and have been played on the radio throughout the week. If you missed them, be sure to check them out on SoundCloud!

A feature of the students doing their research activities was broadcasted on Hectic Nine-9 on the 22^nd of March, at 16:00 on SABC 2 – CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS BELOW!

 So that’s it from us for National Water Week. Remember to save water, keep it clean and stay healthy! 

Hip Hop Health on Hectic Nine-9 22 March

Hey everyone – Welcome to National Water Week 2016!

This week is especially important in South Africa, because we live in  a naturally very dry country. Access to fresh water is a constant issue in our communities and when water is scarce, we need to pay very close attention to water quality and the health risks that come with not looking after our water sources! Check out the awesome songs created by our very own Science Spaza clubs that talk about water and health! Also take a look at some really important information about different kinds of water related diseases and find out how you can keep yourself and your community healthy! Remember knowledge is ncah!

Science Spaza films with Hectic nine-9

The Science Spaza team does it again!

The Hectic Nine-9 crew, were in Pietermaritzburg on the 28th of February for the filming of the Welcome Trust Hip Hop Health project. Three different clubs got to meet the crew and do interviews with TV personalities, Ayanda Makuzeni and Thozama Ngwenya, who explained the importance of water and health as well as highlighting the importance of using water resourcefully. They also got a chance to conduct their research studies in front of the cameras! The footage will be aired on Hectic Nine-9, 22nd of March at 4pm so don't miss it! These research activities were produced by Science Spaza and supported by Wellcome Trust.