75 students came to watch the 30 minute show on Wednesday afternoon which was held at the cafeteria of the school.
The students reacted positively to the show that talked about discrimination on people infected with AIDS or HIV.
The puppet show at the Meyuns Elementary school is just the first of the series of shows that Red Cross is planning to do.
Miriam Chin, Director of Red Cross in an interview said that the next puppet show will be held at Ngaremlengui Elementary School in November.
“We will do it once a month because the actors are all students and we will do it during their free time from school,” Chin said.
She said the idea of doing a puppet show for school was conceptualized by couple Christy and Rick Lejkowski who are also Peace Corps volunteers.
“Many people are scared about being close to people who are infected with AIDS or HIV and this puppet show hopefully will educate the young ones that one cannot be infected by just holding hands, kissing, hugging or sharing drinks or sharing utensils. You don’t get AIDS or HIV if you befriended a person infected with AIDS or HIV,” Chin said.
Christy Lejkowski who is also a teacher at Meyuns Elementary School said she came up with the idea of puppet show because anti discrimination is an important topic to teach students.
She said she was glad that the students got the message and reacted positively to the show.
She was a member of a puppet group in high school who went to different elementary schools to educate and entertain the students.
Christy and her husband have been Red Cross volunteers in Palau for two years. They are leaving on Wednesday to go back to New Jersey.
