Washing hands as a new concept

On my latest trip last week to Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya, I was reminded again of something I always forget until I travel to a developing country (if I’m not already in one) or to remote areas in one. In the refugee camp, there are signs all over that are part of campaigns that have been run by the various non-governmental organizations that work there, including the Lutheran World Federation. These signs give messages that are basically public-service announcements and talk about abstaining from sex before marriage (especially because of the spread of HIV/AIDS), keeping living areas clean, or treating women with respect (an important message in many male-dominated cultures). And when I travel to places like this and visit projects run by these organizations, I often hear that messages like this are taught in the work of these projects – things like how it is important to wash your hands before you prepare food or that you should know how to handle one’s cash so you’re not cheated when paying for something.

When I hear of these messages or see them being communicated, I realize again how much we as Americans take for granted. To me as an adult, I don’t even think about such things, but I know at some point they were taught to me, most likely as a child, but even then, it was probably less blatant and direct – perhaps less teaching and instructing and more like just doing it as a way of life or habit. So it seems strange for me to see these practices being taught to adults for the first time. That’s one major difference, I guess, between developed countries and developing ones – that such practices are ingrained in our culture and easily passed from one generation to the next or are more accepted or prevalent. I guess it’s for that very reason that we don’t have to deal with diarrhea or other water-borne diseases – because we address them at their source by washing our hands before we eat or that we get our water from sources we can trust. But if you’re faced with diarrhea in your family regularly or some members of your family have died from AIDS, then someone may tell you that the basics aren’t being taken care of.

It’s just jarring to my mentality to see a place where such basics, things that are so simple and natural to me, are not done. I don’t mean to imply that people in developing countries are stupid or ignorant or backwards, but for some reason, we as Americans can take these things for granted. This is just always surprising to me – to be reminded of this major difference.