Mom No Longer Has to Worry about My Diarrhea

My name is Xiaoming. My family is in the deep mountain of Longxian County. Here, the traffic is not convenient, the water resource is scarce, and the living conditions are tough. I need to take a half-hour of bus ride to go to school, so, I have to be a boarding student from Monday to Friday like other students.

In our village, there is no bathing place. Only when the Spring Festival is coming, my dad will bring me to town to have a bath. On weekends in summer, I will go to swim in the river near the village with friends sometimes, and meanwhile, clean myself, however, this is very dangerous, and from time to time we might be choked with water. Our parents do not allow us to play in the river, but we just don’t tell them and keep it secretly.

In this summer, several friends and I had diarrhoea, fever and other symptoms one after another. We went to the village clinics to see doctor, and after taking some medicine, we were recovered soon.  However, after a while, we will have similar symptoms again and again. My parents didn’t know why and took me to the county hospital to have a medical check. We were told that it is because our hands and faces are too dirty and we are infected by bacteria. The doctor suggested us to wash hands and take bath frequently to prevent the infection and spread of the disease. Only after this medical check and with doctor’s diagnosis, this issue got the attention of parents and schools finally.

Later, World Vision cooperated with our school to build a sanitary latrine and bathroom in school, taught us the 7-step hand-washing ways though videos, and invited doctors from CDC to give lectures on prevention and treatment of diarrhoea to us and our parents. Now, I can even teach other students to wash hands in right ways.

Now, almost every week I can take a bath in the new bathroom in school. Previous oily hair, dark neck and dirty hands are washed very clean and I have already developed a habit of washing hands before meals and after using rest room as well as after touching things. I am in very good health now, no diarrhoea and fever anymore.

When World Vision came to my school, I said with glad. “Now, it is very convenient for us to take a bath. Every week, I will take a bath with other students and after the bath, I feel clean and comfortable. Our dormitory no longer has an unpleasant odour like before. We are very happy with that and love our life in school. When I come home at weekends, my parents and I will wash hands frequently to reduce my sickness. We thank World Vision’s staff very much, they teach us so many methods to prevent the infections and diseases and help us grow up in good health.

(Written by Gao Weidong)