The Legend of the Dancing Hands: A child e-book about COVID-19 and handwashing

A team of Filipino creatives recently launched an e-book that discusses the threat of COVID-19, in a child-friendly way.

Entitled "In the Town of Kamayanan and the Legend of the Dancing Hands", the storybook highlights the importance of handwashing, and how the solution to the COVID-19 pandemic is quite literally in our hands.

It features the fictional character of "CoVully", and how he sowed chaos and fear in the town of "Kamayanan".

The team coined the term "Kamayanan" from the words kamay (hands) and pamayanan, (community).

"These seemingly mundane words combine to share to the world the radically simple act of handwashing as a way of coming together to rally against a global pandemic," said Boom Enriquez, the writer of the storybook.

The idea to come up with an e-storybook was born when the United Nations started a global call-out for creative work submissions that will tackle COVID-19.

"They wanted to crowdsource engaging content that can help translate their critical public health messages. As creatives, we jumped on this chance to contribute in the fight against this pandemic," Enriquez told ABS-CBN News.

Among the six key messages the UN wanted to convey include personal hygiene, physical distancing, know the symptoms, kindness contagion, myth-busting, do more donate. The team, composed mainly of four Pinoys, chose personal hygiene.

This is the first Philippine children e-storybook to tackle the thread of COVID-19.

Enriquez said their own children became their inspiration for the project.

"The ones who were parents already noticed that they get to spend more time now for bedtime stories with their children, given the quarantine and work from home set up. We then realized that this might be the best way to help children process what’s happening around them, in an age-appropriate and fun approach," he said.

LOVE FOR READING

Now that most children are at home because of the enhanced community quarantine, non-profit organization 'Save the Children' encourages parents and guardians to take this opportunity in nurturing love for reading in children.

"Parents need to invest time to read stories to their children to build strong bond and nurture children’s love for reading,” said Atty. Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines.

A study by the same organization in 2015 shows "that children develop love for reading when parents and elder siblings read to them."

Right now, the "Legends of Kamayanan" can be accessed by parents and guardians at an Instagram account (@townofkamayanan).

If the project is selected by the United Nations, the e-storybook will be shared across UN and their media supporter channels. Enriquez hopes that the story will get a global audience.

On top of this, the team is also looking for possibilities of expanding to other mediums so it can reach more families.

"It’s time to let our kids discover how the simple act of handwashing can save their town and the world," Enriquez said.