West Lancashire run charity celebrate ‘Global Hand-Washing Day’

Oct 17 2012

Resolve Internationals sanitation project helped thirty two families build toilets

Resolve International marked Monday 15th October 2012, Global Hand-Washing Day by completing a sanitation project in Nepal. The charity Resolve International established and run by local people from across West Lancashire combats child poverty in Nepal. Nepal is in the Himalayas, north of India and it is one of the world’s poorest countries.

‘We can be forgiven for thinking that hand washing is unimportant. We are not talking about washing our clothes by hand, but washing our hands to prevent the spread of disease,’ said Keith Laycock, Chairman of the charity.13,000 children under the age of five die each year from the lack of sanitation in Nepal.

People who do not have toilets at school or at home end up using open ground or the local stream as a toilet. Other people use the stream for drinking water and life threatening illness spreads.

Resolve International’s sanitation project helped thirty two families build toilets, which are very similar to the old outside privy we used to have in England. The project also built toilet blocks for one secondary school and one primary school and for five women’s groups. The women’s groups each have a building where they go for training in agriculture, learning to read and for social events. The buildings each have a group of about thirty women and there was no toilet provision at any of the buildings.

‘We work with a local organisation in Nepal who organise the construction work and also provide Hygiene training, which involves keeping the toilet clean and hand-washing to prevent the spread of disease, added Mr Laycock.