Home  I  Who We Are  I  What We Do  I  Where We Work  I  News   I  Projects   I  Contact Us   I  Donate Now   

And don't forget to wash your hands...

When the Nuevas Esperanzas team finished the construction of sixteen family rainwater harvesting tanks in El Ojochal del Listón last year, the tanks began to collect water in the last rains of the season.  This was not the end of the project though; a very important part was still to come.

Rainwater harvesting tanks were new to the communities included in the Mountain Rain project. Whilst being delighted that they have a source of water so close to home and no longer have to walk several hours a day for it, some members of the community have been nervous about drinking the water.  Andrew Longley, Nuevas Esperanzas’ director and water engineer, has tested the quality of the water in the tanks.  The results have shown that in almost all cases the water is suitable for drinking and of much better quality than the water sources previously being used.  Communicating this to the people from El Ojochal was an important part of the project.  It is also vital for the people who have tanks to learn how to maintain them and to practice good hygiene.  Both tank maintenance and good hygiene will help to ensure that the quality of the water is maintained so that it is always suitable to drink.

The explanations behind some of these topics are quite scientific but a technical lecture would not go down well in El Ojochal. So the team developed some creative activities to teach people about bacteria, disease transmission, the importance of hand washing and water testing methods during a training workshop for the owners of the new water tanks.  The session began with everyone shaking hands.  Secretly, three of the team had covered their hands in blue chalk dust before they began.  The blue represented bacteria and after a few minutes everyone in the room had blue hands demonstrating in a very visual way how quickly and easily germs are passed from person to person.  Then it was time to wash it all off – only it became clear that water is not enough as it was only by washing with soap that the blue dust would come off.  Once again this simple activity showed the community how important it is to use soap every time they wash their hands.

The team then introduced the forty participants to the ‘tippy tap’.  This is a clever but simple system using a bottle hanging up and a soap tied to a piece of string to allow people to wash their hands without contaminating the tap or water source with germs from their dirty hands.  It is easy to make a tippy tap and the team left their model at the school for the school children to use.  While they do their best to maintain good hygiene practices in their homes, some said that the lack of water has been a discouragement.

The day ended with a look at the rainwater harvesting tanks and participants helped to identify the most important features for hygiene such as the tap, the fine mesh which prevents mosquitoes entering the tank, the water collection area and the roofs.  Everyone enjoyed the activities and will remember the message the blue chalk and the tippy tap were getting across.

15/05/10