Global Hand Washing Day

Darla's banner

Three Days of Hand Washing: Because Two Just Wasn't Enough!

Coinciding with International Hand Washing Day, Darla school celebrated Hand Washing Day for three consecutive days. Not one. Not two. Three. Because when it comes to hygiene, we believe in overkill.

The school Health Committee invited the Health Assistant (HA) of Darla Gewog to say a few words on the importance of washing hands. He arrived, probably with very clean hands, and highlighted a sobering fact: a number of people die due to not cleaning their hands.

He also talked to the assembly of students and teachers, stating that the main cause of any disease is simply not being willing to wash their hands properly. Not inability. Not lack of water. Lack of will. We have the will to scroll through YouTube for three hours, but not to rub soap between our fingers for twenty seconds. 

Global Hand Washing Day underscores the importance of handwashing regularly with soap and water as one of the most effective and affordable health interventions. Affordable is the key word here. Soap costs less than a packet of instant noodles. 

Hand washing helps fight many kinds of diseases and helps us stay healthy. Clean hands from touching unwanted things. In fact, we need a clean mind so that we can have clean hands. Otherwise, you could scrub until your skin falls off, but if your mind is still rummaging through other people's belongings, are you really clean?

There are many programs for the days. Today, Class XB gave hand washing demonstrations. Twelve techniques. I didn't know there were twelve ways to wash hands. Many of us have been using one technique whole life—the "rub and hope" method—and apparently.

There is hand washing for every class. Every single class. Each class was asked to bring jerry cans and make T-P holes (tap holes) for the days—and to be kept for the entire year. We did. There are now jerry cans lined up like soldiers. Some leak. Some are too high for small children. Some may never be used again after this week. But they are there. And they are beautiful.

Here are some snapshots of what's happening now:

My class IV B students

Jerrycans with T-P holes