Small-scale health promotion

As PCVs we are always thinking about new ways to acheive our goals. Get people to wash their hands more often. How to encourage them to care about water contamination. To take steps to prevent disease transmission.

Here are a couple of simple ideas I´ve been spreading around. I wish I had started sooner, because people are responding really positively. Fellow PCV Louis told me about the success he´s been having with Tippy Taps, which are hands-free hand-washing stations. They conserve water, make hand-washing convenient, and what´s more, fun! In my community, kids have been the real change agents in adopting these, but the adults are coming around too, once they saw that it costs nothing and that this method can help keep their family´s water cleaner. Current hand washing methods involve dipping a cup into a bucket of water, pouring the water over your hands and trying to wash that way, then sticking the contaminated cup back over and over. For this reason and others, most people, don´t do it so often. Here is what the tippy tap looks like:

You use the foot pedal to pull the jug forward, and the water spouts out of a small hole made a few inches beneath the cap. Rain-guard soap dish made out of sardine and tuna cans hangs to the left.

Education about hand washing is one thing. Behavior change is another. I think the Tippy Tap removes many of the barriers to action that existed before and is a great way to encourage families. And the couple of hours it takes to assemble everything allows me to sneak in a few tips and pieces of information in a non-formal environment where people are more likely to listen and engage.



I have also been working on improving the faucet-in-bucket design. Everyone stores water in buckets, and sometimes leave them untapped, or acts carelessly with regard to contaminating the water inside. Using dipping cups to get water out for drinks, plate and hand washing and other tasks makes the water dirty awfully fast. Amoebas, giardia, worms, and bacteria can thrive. I have explained to families interested in the bucket how to chlorinate their water, and then tap the bucket and only take water out of it through the faucet. People are a lot more open to chlorinating their water than when I first got here and many people have shown a lot of interest and understanding reagarding water contamination at the household level.

The more time I spend in my community, the more clout and confianza I have with the people. In recent months, I have noticed them latching on a little more willingly to my ideas and showing more initiative with regard to asking for my help. I have improved the leakage problem with the buckets by placing two small pieces of plastic between the wall and the nut that fastens the faucet in place. I am going to continue working to streamline the process before showing a community counterpart how to do it (they currently regard me as a magician). When things go poorly or are difficult, people can get negative and write things off really fast. The method needs to be quick and easy, and I want to make sure it´s just right before unveiling the tricks behind the magic show.

the face of a happy and crazed inventor