Community training enhances child health

Bontu Galana(14) is 5th grader at Darian Elementary School in Darian town, 8.7 miles from World Vision Wonchi Area Program office. She has been trained in hygiene and sanitation both at a WASH club in her school and in her village by Community Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene (CLTSH) Committee, which has been trained by World Vision WASH team.

Mr. Galana Ejeta, 65, and a father of 5, is one of community members who received training on Hygiene and sanitation education. Following the training, he built a Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) last year and ever since no one in his family defecated in field. To make the VIP, he used locally available materials and World Vision provided concrete slabs.

Prior to the training, many children used their back yards and play fields to relieving themselves. According to Bontu, the foul smell around her home was nauseating, causing her and her siblings to become sick. “Not knowing the cause, I suffered frequent bouts of cold, coupled with severe headache, running nose and coughs. After my dad constructed a private latrine for us I realized that my sickness emanated from poor hygiene and sanitation,” she said.

Bontu and her siblings’ frequent sickness affected their class attendance. Their parents spent their hard earned cash from sale of cereal crops on medication and their productive times were spent on taking them to health facilities and tending to them at home until they recovered. “Parents lived through bad experience before World Vision explained to us the importance of hygiene and sanitation. The organization is doing amazing works in our community,” he said.

Bontu said that the use of latrine and hand washing afterwards is a standard practice among community children. Bontu’s youngest brother, Emmanuel, has become an avid advocate of hygiene and sanitation. “Even if I was his mentor, he has always alerted the family to wash our hands, cut our nails, and keep dishes and our home clean or else we would be sick,” she said with laughter.

Recently the Haroji community hoisted a Green Flag and declared it an Open Defecation Free (ODF) area. The village CLTS committee ensured that a latrine, hand wash facility, and soap or ash existed at each house-hold, and that Communal Latrines are available alongside paved roads. Hence, 50 households in 24 villages and all corners in the villages are confirmed free from open defecation.

Bontu said no child in Haroji village gets sick in their stomach because of poor hygiene and sanitation since World Vision’s intervention. “We’re grateful to World Vision staff that impacted our lives,” she said.