Sitting on the ground, we talk about how to have a better life, a life with less water stress, less disease, and more to drink and eat, thanks to the means now available…
Now that families have access to clean and safe water, safe sanitation facilities and primary medical care, we discuss ways to live healthier together with fewer serious illnesses and what resources are available to improve drinking, bathing, and eating. And earn some money too!
Hello friends, how are you?
These are very intense moments. Indeed, our teams, these thousands of villagers, have been working together since 2019, so imagine the links this creates. How to no longer suffer the inconvenience of water stress and correctly use the #waterconnections facilities now available to them. Learn to care for yourself, your children, your family and the village community.
You’ll need to understand well Kawan: Having water here in East Sumba’s villages is only when it rains. Or you have to walk for several hours to bring back (or not) a few litres of strangely coloured water. Toilets here, there have never been either, but trees, yes. Taking a “shower” is often impossible because washing without or with too little water is difficult. Have you tried to take a shower or clean yourself without water?
Just because there’s clean water and toilets now don’t mean it’s easy. Oh no, and our teams have known this for a long time: So, for these hundreds of families, when in just a few months they have access to clean water and toilets or medical care, well, it has changed everything, lives and habits and even creates emotional stress… And changing habits, well, just like me, is not easy, right?
“-With Fair Future and Kawan Baik, we are experiencing this together here in the isolated villages of East Sumba. We are learning to change our lives, to put in place routines that will prevent us from falling ill or dying young. But above all, from stay in shape, to be able to work because you are not exhausted…”
These days of sharing and training are necessary. We share our life experiences, those of two very different worlds. Our medical and social teams explain the benefits of washing more often with soap because there is water here now. Do this by no longer using detergent to clean the body, hair or private parts, including children and newborns.
By treating a minor injury or health problem before it becomes severe. And perhaps more need to disinfect a wound with engine oil, gasoline or diesel, the misdeeds of addictions related to tobacco, Siripinang, and alcohol, especially in children. All this can be done within the framework of the various healthcare access programs initiated by Fair Future and Kawan Baik, particularly those related to access to Primary Medical Care (PMC). We learn this to
Live better and longer by drinking more, eating better and using the healthy sanitation facilities we have built. We discuss many things with them here on the ground in East Sumba, with the socio-medical teams of the foundation.
We wish you a beautiful day wherever you are. Remember to take care of yourself and everyone you love. It is the most important.
Alex Wettstein – Fair Future Foundation – 22.02.2023, Rumah Kambera.
These photos were taken on January 2023 | Location: Padi, Mbinudita, Sumba Timur, NTT.
