Local woman spends nine months in Ghana teaching cleanliness

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An Etobicoke woman has returned from Africa, where she worked to educate locals about the health benefits of proper hygiene.

"I really wanted to work in Africa after I graduated," said Tania Fernandes, 22, who lived in Tolon-Kumbugu, Ghana for nine months, where she worked as a health promoter for the Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC).

While she was there, she said, "A gentleman came up and told me he didn't realize that every time he went to the bathroom, and didn't wash his hands with soap, he could die from it... When you actually listen to the people and hear what they do from day to day, and find out what's important to them, that's when you can make a difference."

Part of her work involved putting together a educational radio show. She said radio is the most effective medium as very few Ghanaeans have televisions or computers. She said during the course of the shows the children created and aired commercials with simple songs about personal hygiene.

"We hoped that people would sing along with the jingles. 'Wash your hands, wash your hands'," she said.

Fernandes said she had to be inoculated against diseases like typhoid and malaria before she left for Africa.

"I think people think it's dangerous," Fernandes said, "But from my experience my community life was loving and warm, and I truly enjoyed it."

Fernandes said although the danger of infection may not be as serious as she had originally been led to believe, it is still a big concern.

Out of the 15 people who went to Ghana in her team, she said she was the only one who didn't contract malaria.

She explained preaching proper hygiene is a key tool in fighting the spread of infectious diseases. And although language barriers did make things difficult, she found it possible to understand a person's body language without knowing the local dialect.

"It was probably the first time I realized you don't need a common language to communicate."

Fernandes said the villages she worked in had no electricity, no running water, and no cellphone reception. She says it's very different from technologically-dependent life in a Canadian city.

"In the end... you can live without it for nine months," she said. "When I came back it was a sensory overload."

Fernandes said she hopes to return to Ghana one day.

Ian Robertson, a media representative for the CCFC, said the organization's unofficial motto would be to "work themselves out of a job". He said people like Fernandes are helping to ensure people in third-world countries learn lessons that are taken for granted in rich countries.

"Our goal is to help break the cycle of poverty for children of all faiths," he said.