Hygiene Education, Zambia

As part of the end to end WASHE program, Hopes and Dreams Inc. together with in-country implementation partner arranged for two instructors from Seeds of Hope International Partner- ships to come to the community of Kama- konde, Zambia to do Sanitation & Hygiene training for 3 days.
The training started with an opening prayer and was followed by a general introduction of the program.

Day 1- The first session focused on community mapping, where care workers identified
sources that could contribute to the transmissions of diseases in their community. Then in the second session, the group learned about the basics of disease transmission. For example, the group saw how flies could trans- mit diseases from open defecation to food, and how they could stop this by taking simple measures.

Day 2 – The group was instructed on what is called “multi-barrier approach” for safe drinking water. In this session they learned about water source protection, filtration, disinfection, and
safe storage. In the afternoon session, we discussed about family roles and what makes a healthy community.

Day 3 – The main topic of the last day of the training was hand washing. The care workers learned when to wash hands and a proper way of washing hands. Also, the instructors demonstrated how to make a “tippy tap” (see the photo on the left). All group members were excited to see tippy tap in action and had the
opportunity to make one for themselves. Installing tippy taps
around the community seems to be a cheap but very effective way of getting people to wash their hands. After the demonstration, the group was given time to come up with an action plan using what they have learned over the past three days.
The group agreed that they would address some of their issues around sanitation and build good toilets. They would add chlorine to water for disinfection, and clear the surrounding area.

There will be a follow-up review in 6 months time.
The training was excellent in terms of both the content and the presentation. The instructors were knowledgeable and were well prepared. The sessions involved a lot of pictures and diagrams. This facilitated the understanding of the material and they kept the participants engaged. Furthermore, the instructors encouraged a lot of discussions among the participants and gave them a lot of opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned.

It is now their role of these community champions to share this education with the rest of the community through normal com- munity communication channels.
All involved were enthusiastic to learn about hygiene and they asked a lot of questions about it. One individual named Julius said, “We feel like we are moving forward now. We’ve learned a lot new stuff that we didn’t know before. We are very thankful for that. Implementing what we have learned in the past three days would greatly improve the overall health of the community”.
On behalf of the water committee and the participants we would like to express our deepest heartfelt gratitude for this program. The impact is not only for today but for years to come.