“Soap and water, scrub, scrub, scrub,” hums Sashini as she washes her hands.
Like many of her friends, the 11-year-old did not bother too much with washing her hands properly before. Sometimes she and her friends would come home after playing outside or helping with paddy cultivation and wash their hands a little with water to get the mud and dust off. But now things have changed with a program organised by ChildFund Sri Lanka to promote proper hand washing, especially before meals.
Sashini was among 90 children age 6 to 14 who participated in the hand-washing program conducted at their school in the Polonnaruwa district in north central Sri Lanka.
“We teach children about the importance of washing their hands, especially before meals,” says K.M. Chandralatha, a teacher. “But it happens within the classroom. This program was a practical experience in correct hand washing, and I think many of them got first-hand experience on the proper way to do it.”
Access to clean water is crucial for hand washing and other good hygienic practices.
The program commenced with an introduction to hand-washing day, followed by a practical demonstration by a science teacher, illustrating how harmful bacteria can be neutralised with the use of soap and water.
A midwife who works in public health taught the children good hand-washing techniques. “We talk regularly with parents on this subject, but we rarely get an opportunity to talk to children about the importance of hand washing,” says H.M. Chamali Piyaratne, a midwife. “It was a good experience, and I look forward to doing more sessions with children.”
Sashini adds that the program has helped many of her friends, who have in turn taught their younger siblings about proper hand-washing techniques.
“We were never taught to wash our hands like this before,” she says. “The experience of doing it with clear instructions has taught us how important it is.”
To further assist and promote hand washing and good hygiene among children, ChildFund Sri Lanka also provided two sinks to Sashini`s school.
A new job is always cause for celebration. For Alvin from Queensland, then only 21, he celebrated by sponsoring a child with ChildFund Australia.
Five years later, Alvin now sponsors two children: 11-year-old Yayah from Sierra Leone and five-year-old Mohommed from Sri Lanka.
In 2013 Alvin decided to take his relationship with ChildFund one step further by signing up for our Sri Lanka Cycle Against Poverty, an 11-day adventure which saw a small team of dedicated supporters take on a challenging 400km cycle around Sri Lanka and raise money for families living in one of the poorest districts in the country.
“I decided that I wanted to see myself struggle at something, because I know that I could never truly understand how these families live every day. I wanted to see if I had the strength in me to do a challenge like this,” says Alvin.
“The days of cycling were full-on, we cycled all day and any time we had spare, we did tourist visits. I hated waking up early but I loved that there wasn’t any time wasted. It was an amazing trip, especially meeting lots of people from the communities supported by ChildFund and just hearing about their stories.”
While Alvin admits cycling is not really his cup of tea, that didn’t stop him from taking on some of the steepest inclines Sri Lanka has to offer. The team spent six days cycling through the Sri Lankan countryside, which involved tackling the infamous tea plantation region and climbing over 1,800 metres above sea level in just one day!
For Alvin, the trip was made even more special by taking the opportunity to visit one of his sponsored children. Alvin farewelled his cycling teammates in Colombo and embarked on a five-hour car journey to a rural village in Puttalam, where he met five-year-old Mohommed, who he has been sponsoring for the past two years.
“It was a very long trip but it was amazing when I arrived and there he was with his parents holding a garland for me,” says Alvin. “We were both very nervous but he came up to me and gave me a big hug.”
At the beginning Mohommed was very shy, but Alvin made him feel more comfortable by spending some time colouring in with him, before they headed outside to kick a ball around with a few children from Mohommed’s village.
