Sanitation

How the problem of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene affects children in the schools

The biggest problem experienced about water is its scarcity. As a result, children;

• Are infected by diseases which could be otherwise be prevented
• Children attend school while dirty this leading to low self esteem
• Children also learn in dirty classrooms which are washed once or twice a week
• Children also end up drinking dirty water which is harmful to their bodies leading to infection of water bone diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, vomiting, worms and others.
• Children’s time for studies is affected due to taking time out to fetch water which in most cases has big quos.
• Drinking water pose danger to children since it is not treated.

Sanitation and Hygiene

Cleanliness is of great importance in the prevention of many kinds of infections. Personal cleanliness (hygiene) and public cleanliness (sanitation) are both important.

Children in the schools which are in the slums face a great challenge on this area.

Girl children become hardly affected especially when they are undergoing menstrual period. There are no disposal facilities for sanitary towels with the slums. The schools cannot afford to pay for sanitary services and many girls find themselves carrying in their school bags used sanitary towels and sometimes throw them any how including toilets causing them to block. In most cases, they do not even afford the towels and they result in using whatever piece of cloth is around them whether clean or not.

Some children attend school bear footed (without shoes). This is a challenge because most parents are poor and cannot afford to buy school shoes or shoes are not a priority to them due to little income.

In the area of our operation, disposal of refuse and excreta poses a great danger to children. In some areas, toilets which are available can only be accessed by only those who can afford ksh5. Those without money wait until it is dark to use what is known as frying toilets which are thrown in trenches around the homes.

Since the children in our schools live in this environment, they too become victims of infectious diseases. Girl children become hardly affected especially when they are undergoing menstrual period.

What the Church has been sharing with young people

As a church organization, we have been conveying to the young people the massage of importance of clean water, hygiene and adequate sanitation. The message conveyed includes the following;

• Boiling water before drinking or using chlorine tabs and ensuring that containers/cups used for drawing or keeping water are clean. Many illnesses could be prevented if people had reliable access to safe water. But supply of water is a big problem especially in the slums this causing a big challenge.
• General house cleaning. Since the family members are in close contact with each other, it is very easy to spread germs and illness to the whole family.  We educate them the importance of having the house even more clean when there is a sick person because sickness reduces the body’s to protect itself from even ordinary illness. .  The objective here is to maintain good hygiene so as to prevent infection and the spread of infection and to make the house a pleasant place to live in.
• Throw leftover food in a proper way.
• Always to keep food covered.
• Not to spit on the floor when coughing or sneezing; to cover the mouth with arm or with piece of cloth and later wash hands.

• Washing cooking and eating utensils with soap and drying them in the sun.
• To hang or spread beddings in the sun to kill parasites and bed bugs
• Apart from cleaning the houses, the young people are also taught the importance of keeping the compound clean. Weeds, rubbish, and leftover food in the compound can attract rats, flies, mosquitoes, and other pests that carry germs. The compound around the home should be kept clear of all weeds and rubbish. The main objective is to maintain clean environment and so minimize the spread of disease besides making the compound a pleasant place in which to live.
• The young people are also taught on;
• Disposing all the rubbish that can be burned through incineration. This can be simply digging a trench and burning from the trench. The garbage that cannot be burned can be buried in a special pit or place far away from houses and the places where people get drinking water.
• Keeping finger and toe nails short and clean.
• Washing hands after visiting toilets and before eating.
• Avoid walking barefoot to prevent from being infected by hookworm.
• Use of latrines as opposed to flying toilets.
• Not allow flies and other insects land or craw on food.
• Washing fruits and drying all raw vegetables before eating.

Due to expenses involved in pamphlets and pictures for the lessons, it has not been possible to use such useful materials. However, books like “where there is no doctor” and other materials like” homecare handbook” have been so handy in conveying the message of water, hygiene and sanitation in the school and in the sponsorship programmes.

Redeemed Gospel Church has 2000 children who are in the sponsorship programme. Every Saturday, we conduct what is known as Saturday club activities. Among the activities we do with the children is putting into practice what they are taught on Saturdays. Hence, we involve them in doing community cleanups when they are on school holidays. This has given them a sense of belonging and responsibility.

To ensure that the message of water, hygiene and sanitation has an impact, we have also been discussing the same with the parents of the sponsored children and those with children in our schools. With support of materials and expanded knowledge, a lot can be done with these groups which can impact so greatly in the communities we serve/work with.