Constructing a basic hand washing facility

Washing hands has been singled out as one of the most important activity in the prevention of diseases. Sanitation experts recommend that people should wash hands before eating any kind of food, after changing baby nappies, before preparing food and after visiting the toilet.

I would like to emphasise on washing hands after visiting the toilet as the other instances seem to have ready arrangements for washing hands.

Most water closet facilities have hand wash basins strategically located either inside or just outside the rooms. This, however, is not the case with those using pit latrines.

If you use a latrine in your yard either as an alternative to the water closet due to water shortages or as the sole sanitary facility you need to place water strategically to facilitate easy hand wash.

You can easily construct a hand washing facility using locally available inexpensive materials.

In this project, you need three poles of about 1 metre long, 6-inch nails, a hammer, a knife, a five-litre plastic bottle, a one-litre plastic bottle, a hoe, a couple of stones.

Create a hanger by nailing the three poles in an ‘n’ shape, that is two vertical poles and one horizontal. Hammer two nails on the horizontal pole at 60 centimetres of each other. Mark on the ground where you will plant the facility. Dig holes of no less than 30 centimetres, then place the hanger in the holes. Put the stones around the poles, using a hammer or bigger stone to make the pole firm on the ground.

Cut the top part of the 5-litre bottle, create two holes on both sides of the mouth and tie the piece of wire to create a handle. Hang it on the first nail. Cut the one-litre bottle to the height of an ordinary coffee mug, create a hole at the bottom of the bottle and create a wire handle then hang it on the second nail.

To test it, put water in the bigger bottle then draw the water using the smaller bottle, quickly hand it on the second nail and start washing hands using the water escaping from the hole.

Congratulations! You have constructed a hand washing facility. n