Proper hygiene and health sanitation is not something we can buy but something we can share. A willing heart, armed with the proper knowledge is the only thing one need to make it happen. 

A total of 14 Scouts, along with non-Scout members of Project ULAP (Uplifting the Lives of Agta People), an initiative that helps the Agta community, an indigenous community living in the island of Luzon in the Philippines, by teaching them the importance of having a proper hygiene, grooming, health and sanitation. 

Contributing to SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) SDG 4 (Quality Education) in a Scouts’ way, Scouts travelled for long hours to reach the people living in Sitio Bongcao, where the Agta Cimarron tribe is located, around the famous Mt. Isarog, province of Camarines Sur in the Philippines. The initiative is under the Messengers of Peace and Scouts of the World Award.

When the group arrived in the village, they shared with the children the importance of having clean hands, regular teeth brushing, cutting of hair and nails.

Making it more appealing to the children, the group organised a stage play where they showed two personas acting like a ‘Diwata’ – a spirit, usually a goddess in a Filipino folklore believed to guard nature. The stage play was a hit to the tribe. They taught the kids about different colors, shapes, numbers, and baybayin writing. Baybayin is one of the Philippines’ many writing systems that existed before the coming of the Spaniards, that some indigenous people still use today. 

-- Scouts Queenie Love Belza and Dwight Belza Jr., Boy Scouts of the Philippines