The Tippy Tap Demonstration

This post is from Chris, as this was a brilliant step in his quest for improved sanitation for people living in Bambui.

The Tippy Tap was introduced to me by Lisa at the EWB Professional Network in Newcastle. A group of us actually made one on a damp dull day in the Toon.

When I came to Bambui and assessed the hygiene and sanitation facilities in the schools and other public places I saw that in most places it was almost impossible to wash your hands after using a pit toilet or before eating food. I instantly saw how useful the Tippy Tap could be and I can’t even begin to imagine the health benefits that this simple contraption could bring to the community. So, cheers Lisa!

So, here’s the background: Around 3.5 million children under the age of 5 die every year from diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. That’s more than AIDS, TB and malaria COMBINED. It’s thought that something as simple as hand washing could spare 1.2 million of these young lives by preventing the transmission of infection.  

The Tippy Tap is a basic and cheap piece of kit which can be constructed out of local and sometimes recycled materials. It works by pressing a pedal with your foot to pour water onto your hands. Soap hangs on a piece of string next to the water container so that it is within easy reach. This method of hand washing only uses a tiny amount of water per person while it also virtually eliminates transmission of germs form one person to another. And you don’t need to be connected to a water main! A teacher or caretaker can fill up the container at the start of each day with water from a nearby standpipe.

Teresa asked me whether we could construct a demonstration hand washing facility outside of the Reignite Ecotourism & Craft Centre and I knew the Tippy Tap would be perfect for this. It can be used by the surrounding population so that by the time school starts, the children will already have seen it in use and will maybe even ask their teachers for one at their school.

I gave the instructions to the guys at the Centre and I was impressed that they’d managed to acquire all of the materials and decorate the wood for just 2,000 CFA (£2.60ish). I popped in to help assemble it which only took us 10 minutes!

We presented the Tippy Tap to the Quarter Heads and members of the Bambui Village Council. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. People have since asked me if I can go to their house and construct one for them! I think Teresa sees this as a small business opportunity for the youths as they already know how to construct them. I’ll be running a small workshop to teach the Bambui Village Council Health Committee and other members of the Bambui Youth Organisation the science behind this initiative as well as how to construct the Tippy Tap.

Overall the demonstration and Q&A session went well. The young guys at the Ecotourism Centre did a great job with the construction and everyone seemed to love the idea – especially for schools.   

I hope that over the coming weeks and months we will see this rolled out as a standard piece of equipment across every school in Bambui, as well as the markets and health centres.

Please check out www.tippytap.org for more information on this device and see where else in the world it is being used!