Kanungu school adopts tippy taps

Kanyantorogo Community Primary School, Kanungu has introduced the use of tippy taps to improve hygiene in the school. A tippy tap is made from plastic jerry can that is hung on a rope and releases water when tipped. 

 

The Kanyantorogo school director, Naira Namara, said the school had made three tippy taps to be used for washing hands in the boys, girls and teachers’ toilets. 

 

Namara explained that the initiative followed a recent training conducted under New Vision’s Newspapers In Education in which teachers in Bwindi community learnt how to improve hygiene and sanitation in their schools.  

 

As part of this training, Kanungu teachers learnt how to use newspapers as a tool to improve children’s sanitation and hygiene habits.  

 

Kanyantorogo Community Primary School is one of the 52 schools, in Kanungu that are benefiting from the Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) campaign project under the partnership between the 

Vision Group, WaterAid - Uganda and Bwindi Community Hospital.

 

A tippy tap is used to encourage people to wash their hands, especially in the village where there is no running water. 

It consists of a jerry can or jug, which releases a small amount of water each time it is tipped.

 

1. Poke three medium size holes on the front side (side closest to cap) of the jerry can and fill it with water

 

2. Dig two holes in the ground that are spaced (one metre) and put the two fork-shaped branches in the holes. Cover up the holes firmly so forked branches are steady.

 

4. Slide one long stick through the handle of the jerry can/jug and place a long stick between the two fork-shaped branches.

 

5. Tie string firmly to jerry can/jug cap or handle and connect string to short stick on the ground. (Note: short stick on the ground functions as the foot lever that tips the jerry can down).

 

6. Poke a hole through the centre of soap and tie with string to dangle off the long stick on the Y-shaped branches 

 

7. Step on short stick lever and adjust angle of lever so that the jerry can tips over and back to the original position in a smooth motion.

 

 

I come from a slum in the outskirts of Hoima town where people don’t care about their health. 

There are big trenches that carry large volumes of sewage from the area. Sometimes people have to shut doors before they take their meals because of the smell that comes from the sewage. 

 

Sometimes I come across people eating half-cooked meat and using unwashed hands. 

Our teacher tells us that any contaminated food or water can cause serious sickness. I appeal to parents to always educate children on proper sanitation and hygiene.  

 

We were taught how to make a latrine stand for washing our hands after visiting the latrine.  This is a good practice because we clean off the germs. It is simple and some of us children have already made these stands in our homes. Thanks to the Newspapers in Education WASH project.

 

 

We pupils of Primary Seven have a problem in cleaning latrines. We lack the right tools like basins to fetch water, brushes to scrub the latrines and soap. Please help us.

 

We have a serious sanitation problem in our school. People construct latrines near water sources. There are no litter bins and people just dump rubbish everywhere.  We need your help.