Portraits of Our Help: Holiday Edition

Throughout 2007, Malteser International has published remarkable stories of how we help people and communities in the countries where we work to rebuild and revitalize. We've met incredible people doing great work and making great strides and doing great services to help others. We've packaged these stories together for the holiday version of our On the SPOT newsletter.

These new Portraits of Our Help offer heartwarming and inspirational stories from people working in India, Dr Congo, Myanmar, Pakistan, India... everywhere where we help provide relief efforts and rebuilding projects. Download our On The Spot Christmas Edition to read our stories.

World Toilet Day 2008: How children in Sri Lanka learn the importance of safe drinking water

November 19, 2008 is World Toilet Day and the final event in the International Year of Sanitation. Thbis week, we'll look at some of our stories about water and sanitation. Today's story by Katrin Rehfuss tells how school children in Sri Lanka learned the improtance of sanitation and clean water. Visit our homepage for more links about our WASH program.


When Kaushalya Walgama arrives in Batuwanhena primary school (in Elpitiya zone) with her team, lots and lots of children come running to her. They don’t stop jumping up and down; they scream and gather around her. The visits of Kaushalya and her teams always mean that something special will happen. The pupils are excited and curious what they will happen this time. Today they are going to decide on the design and location of their new sanitary facilities. Kaushalya is a Health and Hygiene Promoter for Malteser International, the worldwide relief agency of the Sovereign Order of Malta for humanitarian aid. When the "welcome ceremony" has found an end, 20 pupils out of almost 1,000, some teachers and several parents assemble in a classroom where Kaushalya starts her session. (planning locations, right) 

The idea of this "Child Friendly School Project" is to include the whole school community into decisions concerning the construction of new latrines and washing points. "Especially the pupils are encouraged to express their wishes and needs, as they are the ones who use the facilities and as they are also expected to maintain them" Kaushalya explains. "We want the school community to develop a sense of ownership", she points out, "we hope the children in the end say: This is my toilet, and I’m going to take care of it." This might work more easily when pupils, teachers and parents are involved from the beginning. As in Batuwanhena most schools in Sri Lanka have neither satisfactory water supply nor adequate sanitary installations. The existing sanitary facilities are often dilapidated. They are not separated according to sex and thus do not ensure privacy.

This situation has many impacts on the pupils, as Kelvin Shingles points out: "All children need a sanitary and hygienic learning environment. However, the lack of sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools has an even stronger negative impact on girls than on boys", explains the Malteser International Project Manager." Girls need safe, clean, separate and private sanitation facilities in their schools."

After having explained to the children and adults in Batuwanhena primary school the idea of today’s session, Kaushalya asks them to meet for discussion in three groups: pupils, teachers and parents. "The children speak much freer when they are with their peers", the 34-year-old explains one advantage of this method. All groups start discussing why they are not satisfied with the existing sanitary facilities and how they want their new latrines and hand washing points to look like. Making 20 pupils discuss is no easy task, but finally, they express their worries. The boys complain that they do not have a feeling of privacy in their urinals, and the girls mention that the taps are broken. All of them would like to have garbage bins in the classroom and enough water in the water tank so that they do not need to bring bottles from home or ask for water in the neighboring houses. Amazingly, girls and boys agree easily on the colour of their new latrines: the girls want theirs to be painted in light yellow, while the boys prefer dark green. And they accept the suggested health messages to be written on the walls, so that they do not forget to wash their hands after using the toilet etc.

The "Child friendly concept" has been developed by Malteser International and UNICEF for 53 schools in Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Ampara Districts. Around 16,000 pupils have already or will soon get access to child friendly water and sanitation facilities. The need for this intervention has been identified by the Sri Lankan government, and thus Malteser International works closely with the Zonal Education Officers. According to Kelvin Shingles, the approach is based on the idea that children who participate in efforts to create a safer and more hygienic environment, learn about health and hygiene by doing: "This is an effective way to help young people to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, values and skills needed to adopt healthy lifestyles."

The Malteser International team gives lessons on health and hygiene education following a life skills approach. The pupils learn for example how to test, if the water at school and in their homes is safe for drinking. The three groups in Batuwanhena all meet again in the classroom to finally decide on the location of the new latrines and hand washing points. Kaushalya has painted a plan of the school grounds on a big poster. She asks the representatives of the school community to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different possible locations. The parents want the latrines to be close to the school building, so that the teachers can easily monitor the children. The pupils pay attention that the girls’ and the boys’ latrines are not too close together. Most of the participants are engaged in a lively discussion, and finally everybody agrees.

During the school visit Kaushalya needs to clarify several times who Malteser International is
and what the organization aims for: "Many parents are worried that an organization which is
based in Europe could want to evangelize the kids." Kaushalya explains over and over again that
this is not what Malteser International’s approach is about. She points out that the organization
provides help without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion.

After a while, Kaushalya can convince the families. At the end, the participants of the meeting
even invite the Malteser International team to join the Parents Teachers Association for their next
meeting and to present their work there to all the other parents. At the end, all sides are very satisfied with the session: "Everybody was very much interested and motivated to participate in the
planning process. Even the small children, who are often too shy to express their opinions, were
involved in the decision making", says Kaushalya.

Devastating Earthquake in Pakistan: Malteser International Prepares Emergency Aid

In the wake of the heavy earthquake in Pakistan, Malteser International is supporting the Joint Assessment conducted by the “Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.” The relief efforts include sending a medical doctor to the affected region in Beluchistan where the earthquake caused more than 160 deaths. In the district of Ziarat alone, more than 50,000 people are affected. The Federal Foreign Office of Germany has announced its financial support for the relief activities as well.

To provide emergency relief in the disaster area, Malteser plans to support at least 500 affected families with non-food items like tarpaulins for temporary shelter, drinking water containers and purification tablets. We are also promoting hygiene awareness in the area and distributing family hygiene kits including soap, buckets, bowls, and towels.

Having operated in Pakistan within the districts of Kohistan, Muzaffarabad and Bagh since a severe earthquake struck the region in 2005, Malteser International is uniquely situated to provide relief during this crisis. Malteser's efforts have focused on providing winter-proven temporary shelter, rehabilitating water supply structures, treating patients in remote areas with mobile health teams, and rebuilding Basic Health Units. After the severe floods in Beluchistan in 2007, Malteser International provided disaster relief to 1,000 affected families.

Malteser International Americas asks for your help by making a donation to support our relief efforts in Pakistan and worldwide. Make a commitment by visiting www.maltarelief.org/pakistan to make a secure, tax-deductible online donation today.

"I Have Clean Water"

We continue our look at clean water stories from Sri Lanka, as part of our WASH program (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) series. This story comes P.G Kalyani, a 38-year old woman in Magalthota. She has two sons and a daughter who are still schooling. Her husband is a mason. Villagers in this area are suffering immensely due to non-availability of water. Water is collected from very far away places. 

 Learn more about our WASH program with our free downloadable report or watch our WASH: Life Without Water video on our YouTube channel.

"My water is now clean"

We cannot obtain water from neighbors because the quality of water in the wells located in the area is not suitable for drinking as it is often saline and gives a different taste. Therefore water has been a burning issue for the entire village for years.

I have a well in my garden, but it can only be used for domestic purposes. For bathing and washing, we have to go to an outlying well. The well runs dry in dry seasons. It's a felt need to find out a solution for the purification of water as we drink contaminated water. The villagers in the area are often sick without a particular reason. Later it was found out by the Public Health Inspector (PHI) in the area that it was due to drinking contaminated water. As I said earlier, water is collected from distant places in containers which have been used for years. This is a common scene in the village. No persons or organizations paid attention towards this problem.

One day, the PHI in the area came to our house and told me that he is doing a survey to find out beneficiaries for biosand filters. Biosand filters are new to our community. Thirty villagers, including me, were selected as beneficiaries for these filters. We were taught how to use  the filters by the PHI and by Malteser International, who funded the filters. After training, we built filters as per the instruction given by the PHI.

There are several ways of purifying water. I know only a few of them. But none of them were used by me to purify water before the introduction of biosand filters. When water is boiled, my children hesitate to drink it saying that boiled water doesn't quench thirst. This biosand filter is being used to purify water. There is no any change in the taste of water after the purification and in addition water becomes cold.

Several water testing were done and we were told that the purified water is free from bacteriological contamination. Malteser International often visit our houses to help us maintain the filter. Maintenance of the filter is very simple.

I am very happy to say that this filter is very useful to us and I feel there's an improvement in our health as we are free from diseases such as diarrhea. Now, we drink purified water. We can understand that unpurified water can make us ill. I take this opportunity to thank Maltser for giving us a very useful water filter.

Author: Muditha Menu Mataraarachchi  Malteser International, WASH Office, Galle.

Clean Water Stories from Sri Lanka

Clean water and hygiene is necessary in our daily lives. But what if you lacked access to clean water? Following World Water Week in Stockholm in August, we've received two heart-warming stories from people in Sri Lanka who have received our help as part of our WASH program (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). Our first story is from L.G.H Padumawathi, a 48-year woman living in Maliyagoda, Sri Lanka. She and her husband lost their home in the devastating tsunami in 2004. Our rehabilitation programs have given her a chance at proper hygiene to stay disease-free.

We;ll publish our second story tomorrow. You can also read more about our WASH program with our free downloadable report or watch our WASH: Life Without Water video on our YouTube channel.

"Thank you, Malteser"

I am Padmawathi, aged 48 years, and I live in Maliyagoda. My husband is S.W.A Premarathna. He has been working as a laborer. Since his liver operation due to a cancer, I have to play the major role in the family. We don't have children. Anyhow I have to take part in a daily battle for living. I work as a coir -maker and I am paid RS 250 per day ($ 2.5 USD) which is just enough to meet the daily expenses. We were affected by the Tsunami and as a result lost our house. After the destruction we were selected to have a new house, and were informed to find some land for construction of the house by ourselves. Being very poor it was hard to find some land. Later we were given a small plot of land which is really like a wetland. We were given a partially completed house.

Building a latrine on a land like this was a major problem. We were not able to construct even a temporary latrine due to the high water level. We didn't have any option other than going to the bush amid complaints from our neighbors. Only a few of the neighbors have latrines but they didn't like to share the latrine with us. We were often sick without reasons.

Having a latrine was like a dream. I never thought that the dream could be realized. Several times the Public Health Inspector (PHI) came to our house and instructed us not to go to the bushes as it causes disease outbreaks to the other villagers as well. Later I understood that the neighbors had complained to the health authorities regarding the use of the bush by us.  Actually I couldn't think of what to do. I was in trouble.   
 
One day, some of the officials form Malteser International visited our house and we were questioned on sanitation facilities. Later I was told that I have been selected to have a latrine which was the happiest news I heard for a long time. I was given priority in construction as we didn't have any kind of latrine. The technical officer of Malteser International told me that there are several types of latrines out of which the best option for our house was an eco-sanitation latrine which is completely a new concept we had not heard of or seen before.

After the survey had been carried out in the area, within one months time construction of the latrine was completed. We were made aware of the operation and maintenance of the latrine. Subsequently awareness on good hygiene practices was also made by Malteser International staff. The series of programs are linked into each other. Malteser International has implemented a very beautiful project in our village.

When the latrine is used either saw dust or ash should be put into the pit. Ash is available in the house and it costs nothing. The operation and maintenance of the latrine is very easy. After using the latrine for about one year we should shift to use the second pit. After resting the first pit for nearly 8 months we could get compost. We have started home gardening with the support of Malteser International. We hope to expand gardening in the near future.

I am not shy to say during rainy seasons when the house gets flooded we stay in the compost latrine for shelter. No defects of the latrine have been  found. The latrine operates well. Some of the beneficiaries who have received compost latrines complain that there's a bad odor from the latrine. I think that it is due to lack of proper maintenance.

Now we know what good hygiene practices are and we are free from diseases. Our villagers are very happy as each villager received a new or upgraded latrine. We should be grateful to Malteser International for giving us a latrine like this. Otherwise constructing a latrine could have remained a dream for poor people like us.  
                                                                                       
Author: Muditha Mataraarachchi - Malteser International WASH Office, Galle.