Curing Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) & Breaking the Poverty Cycle
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TOTO
Toto, a fictional character created for the project, interacts with the children and supports their process of learning about trachoma.
ToTo designed to engage with children of all ages, genders and backgrounds, is a friendly and funny character who teaches children about trachoma prevention.
However, Toto also needs the children guidance due to being forgetful and often making hygiene mistakes!
When Toto does something wrong the children are encouraged to 'catch him' and correct his mistakes making them active participants.
By having to protect Toto from his own mistakes, children act as his teacher. This requires them to learn the material more thoroughly and internalize the messages regarding good and healthy behaviors. By actively assisting him with trachoma-related issues, children can better understand the material and make changes.
Toto: I'm the chief expert who was chosen to fight the trek….disease .. Ter .. Trachoma….. it’s hard for me to say. They asked me to help stop the disease from spreading in Ethiopia . Am I a doctor you ask? Not at all! A disease researcher? Nope. A science teacher? I have never been, I am just Toto and I am all-powerful .
Trachoma is a disease that affects our eyes and you know how important our eyes are… So I'm responsible for stopping trachoma and for everyone's eyes to be clean – good for me! Now, let me take a towel here and clean all of your eyes .
Teacher: What do you say children? Is Toto right? Every time we think that Toto is doing something wrong, we will say ‘no no no Toto’
Children: ‘no no no Toto’
Teacher: You know your towel is only yours and you must not let others use it
Toto: What, really? Why?
Teacher: That's how you can catch and spread the disease
Toto: Oh right! and I'm actually responsible for not spreading it around. So children, the truth is, I came to ask you for help, are you willing to help me?
Children: Yes, yes
Toto: I do not really know much about the disease and certainly do not know how to prevent it, but I'm sure you'll help me right?
Children: Yes, yes
Toto: Great! Then maybe you will tell me why we need our eyes?
Children: for seeing, reading, searching for things, closing them when we sleep, learning..
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