Soap

I have been working on the general relationship between health and the community at my school. That sounds odd, I know, but because being ill is so common many kids are overlooked when they don’t feel well. Teachers have become accustomed to children sleeping through class, heads down on the desk complaining of being dizzy, or needing to go to the bathroom frequently. Kids are not willing to admit they don’t feel well and if they don’t speak up, teachers just continue going on with their work.

That all changed in class one, my first grade two months ago when I first got here! I have taken more students then I can count to get tested for malaria and typhoid. Its simple we walk up to the clinic, I sit with them waiting for a nurse, hold their hand while they get a finger prick and then wait for the results. Almost always, one of these tests comes back positive and they need to be medicated. We then walk out of the clinic stop at the pharmacy and get what they need. All of this is free because they are students at the school on the same compound.

I started to think about the reasons why it is so common for my kids to be sick. The way malaria and typhoid are transmitted is understood but I wanted to know why these kids had typhoid so commonly. They are given mosquito nets but they sell them to make money for their families so it’s clear why they have a higher malaria rate. But typhoid is kind of disgusting, it is transmitted through bacteria in feces. It is most commonly caught from either water that has been contaminated or from someone who has typhoid not washing their hands after going to the bathroom and then touching someone else’s hands or food. It is highly contagious and if not treated, deadly.

I watched their daily habits and realized there was something extremely simple missing from their routine. Soap. Everyone washed his or her hands with the dirty water that is piped into our school compound. The kids scrub their hands vigorously with this dirty water before shoveling beans into their mouths for lunch. When I asked why this was the case teachers claimed, “oh soap, it is too expensive.” So today I set up a hand washing station outside the lunch line and I have never received such a positive reaction from anything I have ever done in my whole life. The Uji (breakfast poradge) bell rang this morning at 10:30 and as kids came out the head teacher announced they needed to wash their hands before they took food. Kids ran out to see what he was talking about. They jumped up and down when they realized there was soap. I even watched a couple kids smell their hands for long periods of time once they were truly clean. I really hope they continue to wash their hands and that they see a decrease in typhoid from this project!

 We were talking about how to spare water

Waiting to wash up for a second time at lunch