Changes Small

Last term as the health madam I requested for funds to buy new medicines for the school and also containers for water. Finally this term the money was approved and given to me to spend. Last week in Sandema I bought two large containers and took them to a man who added taps to them. Since we had holidays last week we didn’t start using them but today we did! This is victory to be celebrated in my role as the health madam even though it’s only a small change and on-going education is still needed. One container to be used for drinking water is now in the form 2 classroom and the other container is outside our office for handwashing. Previously there was just one small container (see 'before' photo) with cups that was mostly used for the teachers so the students had to go to the borehole to drink water.

We announced last week that students should start bringing their own drinking cups to school. At first I thought this was a great idea but upon further reflection and research to determine all the diseases transmitted by sharing cups although of course it’s a good idea and the best way it’s not as important as I thought. But regardless I spoke with my students yesterday about hygiene: bringing their own cups (one girl already did) and then hand-washing. For handwashing we discussed the following five facts taken from a handout on Global Handwashing Day that I used last term:
1) Handwashing with soap is the single most cost-effective health intervention.

A $3.35 investment in handwashing brings the same health benefits as an $11.00 investment in latrine construction, a $200.00 investment in household water supply, and an investment of thousands of dollars in immunization.

2) Washing hands with water alone is not enough!
I mentioned to my students that I’ve observed that many people here only wash their hands (or just the hand they plan to eat with) with water prior to eating and then more often with soap after eating to clean the food off their hands. The students knew exactly what I was talking about. In fact, even last night this happened to me as I was over at someone’s house and they offered me food but only brought water to wash hands with before and then brought out the soap afterwards. We also talked about how soap is readily available since it’s used for bathing (Ghanaians bathe twice a day), washing clothes, and doing dishes.

3) Handwashing with soap can prevent diseases that kill millions of children a year.
Handwashing with soap is among the most effective ways to prevent diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for the majority of child deaths. Every year, more than 3.5 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhea and
pneumonia.

4) Use soap to wash your hands after using the toilet or cleaning a child and before handling food (eating or cooking).

I think a lot of people wash their hands only from a cleanliness perspective- as in when they can see dirt on themselves. So we talked about how washing hands after cleaning the chalkboard, farming, picking up rubbish, etc is good but that these other times are even more important.

5) You can be an agent of change!

I asked them to go home and share these facts with their family members especially their younger brothers and sisters who look up to them.

Here is the after or now photo- I wanted to try to snap a photo of a student washing their hands but then felt silly so opted for just the container: