“It’s
hard to be a woman in Balakot,” says Johanna Kozlik, the
German Red Cross water and sanitation and hygiene promotion
delegate, “because they do not have easy access to water
sources and they need privacy to be able to bathe properly.”
Many people left homeless by the earthquake live near rivers
to have access to clean water. For survivors living in Balakot,
this is the only source of water with which to wash their clothes
and bathe. Previously, they took clean water from wells.
Since the earthquake, because of the lack of private bathing
facilities, some women are resorting to bathing in the river
when it is dark, with their clothes on. Then, they walk back
home in wet clothes in cold temperatures.
Kozlik continues: “Some have to walk for more than one
hour. Since there is no place for them to change their clothes,
they have to stay wet until they reach home.”
The urgent need for washing areas, especially for women, has
motivated the Red Cross Red Crescent sanitation staff to talk
to local women to examine possible and suitable solutions.
More than 3.3 million people left homeless in the Pakistan earthquake
face the threat of waterborne diseases, caused by polluted water.
The overuse of river water for daily chores has contaminated
it. “Safe drinking water is also a problem.” Kozlik
adds. “Children often collect river water for drinking
– it can seem clean at first glance but it is not. The
temptation to drink river water, instead of walking for kilometres
to the next safe well, is too great,” she continues.
Kozlik says:” It is such a pity that children playing
by the river drink water from it, carelessly. Through our female
hygiene promoters, we try to tell them not to do so. We found
a puppet show was a good way to approach them.”
The female hygiene promoters, who have been trained by Pakistan
Red Crescent community volunteers, along with all the other
hygiene-related activities they carry out, are now also focusing
on young children and are using puppets to communicate their
messages.
The Pakistani water and sanitation delegate, Sadaf Kiani says:
“Together with Federation female delegates we sewed the
first puppets as models for the female hygiene promoters. We
named them Reyhana and Faisal, very common names in Pakistan.
These male and female puppets talk about basic hygiene practices
so that the children can understand the meaning and importance
of hygiene.”
Kiani continues: ”The puppet show is very interactive
as it ends with a question and answer session, where the Red
Cross volunteers and female hygiene promoters make sure that
all the messages are well understood.”
“Because of the survivors’ lack of access to safe
water and sanitation, they are extremely exposed to waterborne
diseases such as cholera and typhoid.” says Eduardo Casetta,
the International Federation water and sanitation coordinator
in Malakot. “To address the situation, Red Cross and Red
Crescent teams are speeding up their efforts to set up water
and sanitation facilities as well as hygiene promotion activities
through women.”
The Swedish and Austrian Water and Sanitation teams are working
on preventing the spread of waterborne diseases by continuous
health education and by providing access to safe water through
water purification plants in the devastated towns of Balakot
and Batagram. These can provide clean drinking water for as
many as 100,000 people a day.”
N.B. - The Swedish/Austrian Red Cross water and sanitation ERU
is fully financed by the Humanitarian Aid Department of the
European Commission (ECHO) which has donated nearly 400,000
Euros.
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Many
people left homeless by the earthquake live near rivers
to have access to clean water. For survivors living in
Balakot, this is the only source of water with which to
wash their clothes and bathe. (p13745)
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The
urgent need for washing areas, especially for women, has
motivated the Red Cross Red Crescent sanitation staff
to talk to local women to examine possible and suitable
solutions. (p13743)
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|
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The
female hygiene promoters, who have been trained by Pakistan
Red Crescent community volunteers are now also focusing
on young children and are using puppets to communicate
messages about basic hygiene practices.(p13744)
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News
