Demotech, design for self reliance - Hy2U for washing hands

Washing hands made posssible where there is no piped water: at short notice, at little cost while using extremely little water.

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Hy2U for washing hands
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Why
The comfort and hygiene of washing hands to be brought into every home, school. clinic and working space at short notice, at little cost while using extremely little water. A device that offers all this should be introduces as a educational program adopted by small and large organizations that relate to health and development. It has the potential to reduce child mortality under 5 yrs. with 1 million per year.

How
The design offers a series of simple tricks to create a water container with a self-closing tap, a collecting basin and a waste water container. The design takes only everywhere available local materials that can be had at no cost. It also uses commonly available abilities as sewing. The design can be freely adapted to local or personal taste and made a thing of beauty in the home.

Additional information

Planned progress
Plans as they develop are published at http://www.hy2u.org under the menu item "Events"

Internal links

Hy2U Promotion at the World Water Week Conference in Stockholm

From 17th of August to the 24th Demotech was present at this conference to introduce the Hy2U. The idea to go to this formal event came in an unplanned way. Half a year ago a request for papers from this conference was answered with sending in "The Hy2U-Story".
This led to their invitation to present the Hy2U with a poster. The idea developed to go together with a group from the Student Workforce, sponsored by the Maastricht University. The outcome was unexpectedly promising. We found sincere interest in the Demotech Approach. A long list of contacts that want to participate in the Hy2U Campaign now is on our desk to work on. Best result was the possibility to introduce the Hy2U in West Kenya. This may take place already this year, 2008.

More details and photos are to be found here

Manual Hy2U, how I make it

Lists of steps to explain and photograph or video

There is a lot to explain to the group of people that plan to promote hand washing with the Hy2U. In this outline all steps that have been indicated so far are named and put in a decent order. Certainly not the last shake up! Changes follow each up often. Gladly so, as it indicates progress.
But who want to be properly informed about the last chosen method of working should consult this paper.

Hy2U Beauty Contest for the Water Bags

'Niceness' is a keyword in the Hy2U-Campaign. The campaign is about hygiene, as that is so very important for health. But the campaign is 'lived' because people like it. Like it for comfort, for the fun of it, for the practicallity of it, for its niceness.

Research on Eco-sanitation

In July 2008 Jaakko asked the opinion of a friend of his on the value of the Hy2U. This happened in the course of the preparations for the Stockholm World Water Week. The below mail provided valuable insights>
A quote here, more in the publication itself, click the link.
Unfortunately there is not many information about technical details available on the hy2u- website. That makes it difficult for me to asses any advantages or disadvantages compared to other designs. Aspects that might especially determining the advantage of your design could be self-closing (prevent contamination and evaporation) and the refill frequency. Available material and no-cost are aspects featured by other designs as well. Generally, I would state that the most important aspect is promotion/ education.

External Links

Tip Tap
Keeping hands clean is a basic, but extremely important habit for people in many African countries, where diseases can spread easily. Part of Send a Cow training for anyone helped by us, involves showing them how to make these ingenious little taps in their back gardens, next to the loo or cow-shed.

This year we've decided to add a Best Tip-Tap category to our African Gardens Competition, with free entry - to find the most ingenious and creative version in the UK.
http://www.sendacow.org.uk/schools.asp?active_page_id=314

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