Yanti
walks towards her house in the Walubi temporary living centre
where she has been staying with surviving members of her family
since the 2004 tsunami destroyed her home.
Along the way, she meets her neighbour’s daughter, Putri,
who is washing her hands. “Are you using soap?”
asks Yanti.
Putri smiles, says a big “yes” and runs off to play
with her friends.
Yanti is part of a new group of community-based outreach workers,
who are leading efforts by the Canadian Red Cross to bring hygiene
care and sanitation promotion to communities across Aceh.
“I encourage them to wash their hands with soap after
latrine use. When preserving cooked food, always cover it with
a lid. They listen to me carefully and try to follow the instructions.
It’s the first time they’re hearing these messages,”
says Yanti.
Around 114 community health volunteers have already been provided
with Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST)
training by the Canadian Red Cross. PHAST training uses innovative
approaches and tools to promote hygiene, sanitation and community
management of water and sanitation facilities.
“The underlying basis for the PHAST approach is that no
lasting change in people’s behaviour will occur without
understanding and believing, and this requires culturally sensitive
and appropriate health education. The training method employed
by Canadian Red Cross uses tools that are very participatory
and visual, like community story telling,” says Meiry
Nasution, a hygiene promotion coordinator for Canadian Red Cross.
Canadian Red Cross is combining the PHAST training with much-needed
sanitation facilities for over 16,000 people spread across 12
temporary living centres in Aceh. These include the construction
of bathing and washing areas, latrines with improved safety
features for female users (such as lights, locks, and garbage
bins for disposal of sanitary products), septic tanks, as well
as providing cleaning materials.
“After the tsunami there was an increase in stomach aches
and diarrhea but even before the tsunami we used to suffer from
scabies and other skin diseases. But the interventions carried
out by agencies like Canadian Red Cross have assisted us in
reducing that. Because of the PHAST training I know that my
children would get these skin diseases because they would go
to the bathroom in front of our house and then play near that
area,” says Dahaiyar who recently received PHAST training.
Yanti, her friend Mala, and the other community health workers
in Walubi bring together the whole community on one day each
month to clean the temporary living centre. Yanti puts together
a list of responsibilities for each member during the community
service day known locally as ‘Gotong Royong’.
“I like to see the barrack clean. Even though we don’t
get a salary, we do it for our community. The training gave
me the knowledge I needed to make my community better and safer,”
says Mala.
“The volunteer community health workers are the lynchpin
of our efforts to bring quality health care to people and to
change their health and hygiene habits. The tsunami has given
us a window to raise the bar in the areas of hygiene and sanitation,”
says Natalie Jette, the water and sanitation delegate for Canadian
Red Cross in Aceh.
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Meriy
Nasution, a hygiene promotion coordinator for Canadian
Red Cross, explains the causes of fecal-oral disease during
a Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation
(PHAST) training. (p15547)
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A
community health volunteer washes her hands before she
cooks a meal for her family. (p15548)
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