VOA常速英语:在没有清洁水的非洲社区如何在疫情期间解决洗手问题

Wash your hands, wash your hands, really, everybody wash your hands.
Some people may think this disease is something that doesn’t concern them and that it will never affect them.
That it is something they only read about in newspapers or social media or see reports about on television.
But it is very real and it poses a great danger to everyone of us and to our society as well.
Those are fine words but one of the biggest challenges on the African continent is the simplest universal access to clean water.
Even in relatively well developed South Africa millions of residents lack clean running water at home.
It would take years to shore that up.
So in the meantime charitable organizations like living water international have gone into overdrive,
setting up water points and hand washing stations in countries
including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra, Leone, Zambia Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda Rwanda and Burkina Faso.
The organizations water and sanitation officer says people have enthusiastically embraced the program.
This is especially important in high density areas like camps for displaced people and refugees.
In those places groups like catholic relief services are also upping their hygiene efforts.
So we are able to reach well over 1 million Ugandans with new messages around hand washing and hygiene promotion in general.

And so very specifically that can mean
for example that in the countries in the in the refugees and some of the settlements in the very northwest of the country.
For example like BDBD settlements we have volunteers that are standing at the hand washing points where the refugees collect their drinking water.
And we while they’re fetching the drinking water we basically take the time with the refugees to talk to them about the corona virus.
And how to better protect themselves and their families to make sure to keep the water clean and sport well and that wash your hands frequently.
Hand washing seems like a small routine thing
but in the current crisis maybe nothing else the average person does is more important
and maybe nothing else will save more lives.