Most households in Cameroon wash hands without a tap. That is not a reason to wash less; it is a reason to set up the pouring point once and stop thinking about it.
Build a tippy-tap
- Hang a 5-litre jerrycan or bottle from a stick or branch at chest height.
- Make a small hole near the top of the cap end, or use the cap loosened.
- Tie a string from the neck down to a stick on the ground: step on it, the can tips, the water pours.
- Hang soap beside it in a net bag or an old sock so it does not sit in mud.
- Dig a small soak pit underneath, or plant something there.
The whole point is that nobody touches the container with dirty hands, and the water runs away instead of being reused.
Pouring for each other
If there is no tippy-tap, one person pours from a cup or kettle while the other washes. That is proper handwashing. Dipping both hands into a shared basin is not: the first pair of hands contaminates the water for everyone after them.
When there is no soap
- Wood ash or clean sand, rubbed with water, then rinsed. Much better than water alone.
- Alcohol gel, if the hands are not visibly dirty and you have it.
- Water alone, vigorously, for twenty seconds, as a last resort.
Keep it usable
- Refill it every morning, before anyone asks.
- Keep spare soap where it is visible, not locked away.
- Put one by the latrine and one by the kitchen. The one by the latrine is the one that prevents disease.
- Make it low enough for the smallest child in the house.
