Kids arrive squeaky clean for hand washing day event

Rizki Nur Safila, a 12th grader at public elementary school SD Negeri 15 Pondok Labu, used not to wash his hands after playing with his cats.

That bad habit ended when his teachers told him that his cats’ fur might be harboring parasites and bacteria.

“It is important that I don’t have germs on my hands when I want to eat,” he said, adding that he now washed his hands with soap and water after handling the fury critters.

Rizki was one of thousands of elementary school students who celebrated the 4th Hand Washing with Soap Day held in the east Senayan parking lot in Jakarta on Saturday.

Rizki and other students responded enthusiastically to questions on basic hygiene posed by Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih.

“Do you know when we need to wash our hands with soap? Yes. Before eating, after touching animals and especially after using the bathroom. So please remind your moms or bibi [domestic helper] to wash their hands properly with soap before preparing your meals,” she said.

Children, she said, must be healthy and hygienic, citing hand washing with soap as an effective measure against diseases such as diarrhea and the flu.

This year’s celebration was themed: “Hand washing, an integrated promotive and preventive effort to improve children and mothers’ health”.

Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto and members of the Solidarity of Wives of the United Indonesia Cabinet Members (SIKIB) also attended the celebration.

The annual event was launched by a group of countries during the 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden.

So far, more than 120 million children from 70 countries in five continents have observed the event, which falls every Oct. 15.

“Hand washing with soap is just a simple habit, but it has a fabulous effect on human health,” said Tjandra Yoga Aditama, Director General of Disease Control and Environmental Health at the Health Ministry.

Citing the 2010 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas), he said that more than 80 million Indonesians thoroughly washed their hands before eating and more than 145 million people in the country washed their hands after going to the toilet.

“Fifty two percent of breast-feeding moms wash their hands properly before breast-feeding their children,” said Tjandra.

During the event, about 3,000 elementary school students in Jakarta broke the record at the Indonesia Records Museum (MURI) for the biggest ever dance ensemble performance, with a “Hand Dance” performance. They then washed their hands with soap together with the Health Minister who also observed a photo exhibition titled “Potret Sanitasi Indonesia” and symbolically started the planting of 1,000 trees.

Sylvia Agung Laksono, a SIKIB member, said that Hand Washing with Soap Day was a global commitment to the importance of preserving healthy and hygienic habits.

“By celebrating the event, we want to keep remembering the importance of hygiene as the basic fundamental of creating a healthy society,” said Sylvia, who is married to People’s Welfare Coordinating Minister Agung Laksono.

She said that only a healthy society could become productive enough to compete internationally.

“We can create a more hygienic, healthy and quality society by doing simple things such as making hand washing with soap a habit.”

SIKIB was initiated by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono shortly after the tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004. Severe damages in Aceh moved the First Lady and the wives of the United Indonesia Cabinet members to create a social movement aimed at helping people struck by calamities.

In April 2009, SIKIB officially opened the first of its Rumah Pintar learning centers, at the Tanjung Priok railway station in North Jakarta for street children aged between 5 and 9 years old.

“They used to live just as they liked, paying too little attention to the importance of hygienic habits such as bathing, brushing teeth and washing hands properly,” Sylvia said.

The SIKIB volunteers succeeded in imparting on the street children a new perspective on the importance of hygiene, and teaching them how to wash their bodies and hands properly, she added.