Mandurah Oxfam Group to shine a light on water sanitation struggle
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Clean water is something we all take for granted. However, it can be a real privilege in other parts of the world.
Visitors to this weekend’s Boardwalk Markets will have the chance to experience the water and sanitation problems refugee camps experience abroad with their own eyes.
Mandurah’s Oxfam group is bringing a Virtual Reality (VR) set and a tippy-tap to Mandurah to raise awareness about poor sanitation in emergency situations and the organisation’s efforts to reduce waterborne diseases.
On Sunday morning, residents and visitors will have the chance to put on a pair of VR goggles to visit a refugee camp, before learning how to operate a tippy-tap.
A tippy-tap is a hand-made washing station used by organisations such as Oxfam to promote hand washing and good hygiene habits, and fight waterborne diseases.
The device is built by holding up a jerry can using three sticks. A piece of string and a fourth stick make a foot pedal which tips the jerry can, releasing a flow of clean water.
Models can also incorporate a bar of soap hanging inside an onion bag.
Mandurah Oxfam Group member Anne Batt said the event hoped to raise awareness about Oxfam’s sanitation programs by bringing a real-life experience to community members.
“In some villages in South Africa waterborne disease rates dropped by 50 per cent with those taps,” she said.
“On Sunday, as well as washing your hands at a tippy-tap, you will be able to get a close up view of life in a camp through our virtual reality goggles.”
Basic hygiene is especially important in crowded living conditions, such as those being experienced in Yemen, or by the Rohingya in Bangladesh.
Ms Batt said Oxfam specialised in providing safe water, hygiene training, and sanitation in these camps.
Mandurah’s Talk About English students had the chance to see the tippy-tap in action on Monday this week when Ms Batt brought the locally made device to the group’s conversation class.
The Talk About English conversation group is a joint initiative between the Zonta Club of Peel and the Peel Multicultural Association to give people whose first language is not English an opportunity to practice conversation in small groups in a friendly and supportive environment.
The group meets from 12pm to 2pm every Monday at the Greenfields Family and Community Centre.
Interested residents are welcome to drop by the centre and attend one of the sessions.