Villages benefit from improved hygiene

COMMUNITY

THE European Union and Unicef-funded Klinpela Komuniti Projek (KKP) in the country to support the Government in its Wash (Water Sanitation and Health) Policy has reached its next stage in Goroka District in Eastern Highlands.
Seven communities have recently self-declared open-defecation free witnessed by EU and Unicef representatives. The seven communities are part of the selected 200 communities, 50 primary and elementary schools and nine health facilities under Klinpela Komuniti Projek. These communities are Segitoka, Matega, Kamusi, Nagamiza, Mesiufa, Sami and Holimetoka.

This means more than 4,000 households out of the targeted 11,730 households now have safe toilets and this has greatly decreased the prevalent cases of water-borne diseases such as Diarrhea, typhoid and dysentery.
Goroka District Health Manager Michael Muri has confirmed that typhoid was endemic in Goroka but with the introduction of Klinpela Komuniti Projek, it will greatly reduce water borne diseases.
“Goroka District is amongst the four Districts selected for the KKP Project.”
For Goroka the implementing partners are Oxfam PNG, Touching the Untouchables, AT Project, Feedback Foundation and the district development authority.
Touching the Untouchables is a local NGO based in Goroka and is engaged for community behavior change while AT Project is constructing hygiene facilities at schools and Health centers. Feedback Foundation is supporting the project to conduct community triggering for open defecation-free status for communities.
Goroka district has 18 more communities that are under pipeline to be declared open defecation-free early next year. The implementing partners have triggered a total of 123 communities or hamlets.
Through behavioural change work, communities are beginning to realise the importance of family health. Youths are helping the old people and widows to dig their toilets. In some instances, young lads at the age of 11 and 12 are digging their own toilets. The type of toilet the project is encouraging is a VIP latrine where it has ventilated pipe, lid covering the opening of the toilet, hand washing station and the use of ash after using the toilet.
It is an affordable toilet that can be built by any Papua New Guinean family in rural communities. Communities in Goroka District are taking initiative to build their own toilets with the local available resources.
The introduction of KKP project is improving family’s Hygiene and Sanitation behavior.
James Mondurafa from Holimetoka community said in the past due to no toilet, people use to excrete in the coffee gardens, bush, and creeks and everywhere around the community.
He said when the Klinpela Komunit Project came in, they made us realize that we’ve been eating and drinking our own shit. “This was through flies transporting shit to our food and kitchen utensils, most times we forget about washing hands and also drink contaminated water,” he added.
He said these are simple but lifesaving skills the project is teaching them.
Mondurafa said now they can built safe toilets, free from flies and smell and can last for some years.
This project is also benefiting woman and children.
Daisy Tika, a mother of two at Sami Village said the project has relieved the burden for woman in her community. She said before the project, many of their children used to be infected with preventable diseases like typhoid and malaria. When their children get sick, more responsibilities used to fall on womenfolk but now it has reduced. She said their children are happy, because their community is healthy.
Work has already started in schools, AT projects has constructed safe and user friendly hygiene and sanitation facilities for students. This includes menstrual hygiene management facilities for girls and safe toilets for children living with disability.

Goroka district school inspector, Charlie Kawavina said this project has increased the female students’ enrollments in schools and has also improve their academic performances.
He said in the past, more female students used to leave schools, due to no proper menstrual hygiene management facilities at schools.
For communities, declaration of open defecation-free is the first step the communities are taking. After that EU and Unicef will do verification and certification and finally launch them as healthy communities.
The other criteria the communities have to meet before declaring them as healthy villages is the Ten Healthy Island Concept. These include immunisation, family planning, hand washing stations, faith garden, and beautification amongst others.
Unicef’s chief of Wash, Carlos Vasquez while declaring Nagamiza and Sami communities last week said, Goroka district was leading this pilot project when comparing to other three districts in the country.
This is a two-year project but for the long run, the sustainability aspect will fall back to the PNG Government through DDAs under the national Wash Policy 2015-2030.
Member for Goroka Henry Ame has already shown interest in this project when he donated K200,000 in October this year.
Communities in Goroka are very grateful to the EU and Unicef for making the funds available for this life changing project.

• Story and pictures by the TTU Media and Communications office.