YOUR MILES CAN CHANGE A LIFE.
Right now we’re washing our hands, our clothes and the surfaces around our home more than ever. For most of us, the process is relatively straightforward – we do it without a second thought: tap on, hands underneath, apply soap and sing happy birthday while we scrub.
But for the 3 billion people on our planet that don’t have access to adequate handwashing facilities, it’s a very different story.
For these people – women and girls, men and boys, parents, workers farmers and careworkers – hand hygiene in normal circumstances is challenging. In the midst of a pandemic it can be the difference between life…and death.
Image courtesy of Water.org
As we’ve been told so many times this year, hands are the major carrier of disease-causing germs. Even before Covid, they were carrying bacteria that can cause illnesses such as Diarrhoea – the cause of death of more than 297,000 children under the age of five, each year (source). And even before Covid, we were being encouraged to wash our hands more often.
But here’s the problem. Even though we’ve known for years that handwashing with soap reduces the risk of Diarrhoeal diseases by 42-47%, 1 in 3 primary schools still don’t have handwashing facilities (source).
Image by Kelvin Trautman
And even though we know how important it is to clean our hands, only 1 in 5 people globally wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet (source).
We know it, but we don’t do it.
For many of us, we don’t do it because we forget. Because we’re lazy. Because well, whatever. For us, it’s behaviour, and behaviour we can change. But for the many others who don’t have access to the soap, or the water, or both – it’s not a choice issue, or a behaviour problem. It’s about access.
When we read these statistics, or see images of people struggling often halfway around the world, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the problem, or wonder what we can do to help? “I’m just one person, how much impact can I really have”?
It’s Global Handwashing Day on October 15th, and since I’ll be spending my 50th birthday this month in full lockdown here in Melbourne - I’ve decided to dedicate my birthday to this cause. We’re launching a week-long activation that gives everyone everywhere an opportunity to be part of the solution. Action is free and super easy.
We’ve partnered with some incredible organisations who have pledged to donate 1 bar of soap for every kilometer we run, and one handwashing station for every 100km we run collectively.
All you have to do is go out between 10th and 17th October and walk or run. As often as you like and for as far as you like. Tag a friend, go with a virtual friend.
When you’re done with your miles for the day, post on social with the #Sweat4Soap and we’ll track and collect the information.
You can sign up on our website for free www.sweat4soap.com and get a personalised race bib for the week - and learn more about our incredible partners who are doing amazing work on the ground in providing safe handwashing facilities around the world.
This handwashing day donate your distance to help us improve the lives of others and get one step closer to ensuring hand hygiene for all. Individually we can make an impact. Together we change the world.
www.sweat4soap.com