The “Lave main” for Schools

Hygiene is not a priority for the rural population: water itself is difficult to access, let alone water and soap and a place to use them together. We hope that getting children into the habit of washing with soap and water will have an impact on the general population, with children passing these good habits upward to their parents and extended family.

Goals overview

Improve the health of the children in rural area, and through their example also improve the health of the parents.

Current status

There is no specific system in place today; sometimes the children wash their hands at the water well or in a bucket.

Project plan

Keeping your hands clean is difficult without easy, convenient access to water and hand-washing facilities. Using mainly second hand materials, we worked with a local plumber to come up with a very simple system for children to wash their hands.

A plastic container is equipped with a tap and placed on a light metallic support in order to position the tap at the right height for the children. This support is fixed into the cement in front of the class. The plastic container can be stored in the class each evening. Water is brought from the school well and poured into the “lave main” from the opened top.The running water is caught in a bucket under the tap. This dirty water is later used to clean the toilets.

Children have to wash their hands before going to class, after going to the toilets and before getting their lunch. Under current conditions, the bucket in which the children wash their hands is dirty after the first 5 washes. By contrast, the new system means no child will ever wash in dirty water. In order to get the “lave main,” the parents association has to guarantee they will provide soap for the school.

The system is simple and has no maintenance requirements. The water is brought by the children themselves. The soap will be provided by the parents association. Dirty water will be used to clean the toilets.

Equipping all classes in all schools of the 9 villages means 39 lave main systems are needed. Necessary materials for constructing the "lave main" consist of: one plastic container with screw top, one tap mounted on the container, one metallic support for the plastic container and for the soap. The installation costs include transport to the village.