Meet The Ati Toyo Mother Club
“Since we use the borehole, the people in the village have less disease, fewer people are ill now”
– Abouli, secretary of the Ati Toyo Mother Club
The members of the Ati Toyo Mother Club have undertaken vital WASH training, teaching them water safety and sanitation practices. The Mother Club formed after this training have the knowledge of the potential hazards associated with consuming river water, along with the crucial techniques involved in storing water using clean containers.
The training of the Ati Toyo Mother Club extended to household hygiene, emphasising the importance of regular personal hygiene, such as hand washing with soap when children return from school, and ensuring clean hands before meals or handling food.
In addition to encouraging these general habits, the Mother Club has been taught how to be responsible for the care of their water source. They are actively engaged in maintaining the cleanliness of the village, especially surrounding the borehole, by taking measures to prevent contamination by animals. They have also learned the importance of keeping the wider area around the borehole hygienic, and keeping a distance unless necessary, which is crucial, given the absence of latrines in the village.
The women are happy as they have already noticed that illness in their families is reduced. The Mother Club has meetings with other women in their village to share what they have learned so that everyone knows how to keep the water they drink clean.
The women all agree that now they have a clean water source in their village and no longer need to walk to the river every day.
The women in the Mother Club are proud and relieved, as there has already been a noticeable reduction in the amount of people falling ill. The Mother Club have recognised the positive impact of their newfound knowledge, and now host meetings with fellow women in the village. In these meetings, the members of the Mother Club share the information they were taught during their WASH training, creating a communal awareness on the best practices to ensure the cleanliness of the water consumed.
The members of the Ati Toyo Village are grateful for the positve shift caused by the installation of a clean water source in their village. Not only is there a general health improvement, but there is now no need for daily excursions to the river, allowing more time to be spent on improving the community.