Information Education Communication (IEC) in WASH emergencies

Practices and beliefs

Education
Education levels are low among the 50,000 people in the Kusini camps. Only a few people
have been to school and can read or write. Most of the 20,000 young people with some
education have moved to Drajal town and are living with relatives in a crowded slum area.

Practices
Children or teenagers usually fetch water. Women do this if their children are too young.
Men are only involved if their wives are sick or have newborn babies to care for.
Boiling water for drinking used to be common in Kusini. However, it is not happening in the
camps as it is difficult for people to find dry wood.
Only the women and girls use the 100 latrines in the camps, while the men and boys
defecate in the open. Back in the villages everyone would defecate in the open, as few
people owned latrines. After displacement, women used the latrines as they were afraid to
defecate outside.
Hand washing is common in the camp, but most people only wash their hands with water
before eating. They see no need to wash at other times unless their hands are obviously
dirty. Ash was commonly used in the villages, but this is uncommon now as it is difficult to
find dry wood for cooking.
Only a few households can afford soap for laundry and hand washing. WAI is planning to
carry out a mass soap distribution in the camp next week.

Beliefs
It is a common belief that cholera is caused by the gods of the rains as most of the acute
diarrhoea cases occur during the rainy season. Rather than go to hospital, most people
prefer to use local herbs to treat cholera. Some herbs are swallowed in the belief that they
cleanse bad spirits from the stomach. As a result, many of the affected people are severely
dehydrated.
The women are also not comfortable sharing the latrines with men, especially when they are
menstruating because they believe it can lead to infertility.