Laos: Hygiene teaching from Japan

In August 2010, volunteers from Japan traveled to Laos with the aim of improving hygiene conditions in the country.

Children from a village near the Luang Prabang UNESCO World Heritage Site in Laos were delighted to see the volunteer helpers from Japan, whose mission was to improve the youngsters’ health. One helper was Makiko Saitsu from Henkel in Japan, who applied for a grant from the MIT initiative to help pay for the project set up by her sister Kanako Yamamoto five years ago.

Saitsu explains: “In August we traveled along bumpy, wet roads to three remote villages. Once there, we taught the children how important hygiene is. We showed them how to wash their hands with soap before every meal and after going to the toilet.” The helpers also distributed drugs to prevent parasites and taught local nurses how to use them. In addition, they carried out the groundwork for the installation of 80 toilets in the second village. Preparations were also made for additional sanitary facilities in the third village, which currently has only one toilet. The toilets will be installed by local helpers once the monsoon season has passed. A numbers of volunteers from Japan will shortly be returning to Laos to assess the progress of their work last year.

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