Keeping Clean Under Difficult Circumstances. Charles H. Cleveland

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Eleanore Parks
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1 Keeping Clean Under Difficult Circumstances Charles H. Cleveland Many illnesses are due to the environment around the house and home. This section is presented for the benefit of those who live under difficult circumstances caused by poverty and lack of education. The suggestions given here have been tested and tried among even the poorest and most destitute of people with good results. Chuck Cleveland has worked for years in poverty stricken lands, teaching and ministering to the health needs of families everywhere. Those who read and follow the principles he describes will be well rewarded in terms of improved health and relative freedom from parasites and many infectious diseases. (Editorial comment) Chapter contents A) Cause of sickness B) How sickness spreads C) Personal hygiene cleanliness D) Keeping the home clean E) Cleanliness of food and water 1 / 7

2 F) Keeping the community clean A) Cause of sickness Most infections could be prevented by these simple measures and by immunization of children for common childhood diseases (Section V, chapter 6). Infections are diseases spread by worms or little living things called germs. Germs are very small. We cannot see germs without special machines (microscopes), but that doesn t mean they do not exist. B) How sickness spreads Infections are commonly spread from one person to another because of poor cleanliness and poor sanitation as illustrated by an example. A child who has worms forgets to wash his hands after passing feces. He offers a piece of bread to his friend. His fingers, still dirty with his own feces, are covered with hundreds of tiny worm eggs, so small they cannot be seen. Some stick to the bread, and when his friend eats the bread, he swallows the worm eggs too. Soon, his friend will also have worms. His mother may say he got the worms because he ate sweets, but it wasn t the sweets. It was because he ate bread from his friend who did not wash his hands after he passed his feces. (Editor s Note: Because sweets are sticky, worm eggs may well be spread by them as well as by other food. Furthermore, a diet containing many sweets may reduce one s resistance to infections of all kinds.) 2 / 7

3 Some of the illnesses that are spread from feces to mouth include diarrhea, intestinal worms, polio, hepatitis (liver infections), typhoid fever, and cholera. Many times pigs, dogs, chickens, and flies spread infections. For example, a man with diarrhea or worms has a bowel movement behind his house and does not cover the feces. A pig walks by and dirties its nose and feet with the feces. The pig maybe even goes into the house. A child playing on the ground where the pig walked, dirties his hands with a little of the feces the pig leaves behind. If the child starts crying, the mother takes him in her arms. Then she prepares food for the family but forgets to wash her hands before preparing the food. A little of the man s feces, so small that nobody can see, is carried from her hands into the food. The whole family eats the food, and soon they are all sick with diarrhea or worms. Many kinds of infections are passed from one person to another in this way. Infections of the intestines are not the only diseases that are spread from person to person. Colds, flu, pneumonia, tuberculosis, meningitis, and many other diseases can be spread more easily if people are not careful about cleanliness. C) Personal hygiene cleanliness We need to pay special attention to being clean and making our communities safe and clean. Here are some things that may help. Always wash your hands with soap and water after having a bowel movement, before eating, and in the morning after you get out of bed. Bathe often if possible, every day. Frequent bathing helps prevent infections on the skin. Always use the toilet. If none is available, be sure all feces are covered. Keep pigs and animals away from the house. 3 / 7

4 Be sure children do not play where animals have been and that hands are always washed before eating. In areas where hookworm is common, do not walk barefoot. Hookworm enters the body through the skin of the feet. It makes the blood very weak (anemia). Brush your teeth every day and each time you eat sweets. If you do not have a toothbrush and toothpaste, rub your teeth with salt and baking soda, or chew some leaves or sticks that are not harmful. Check the whole family for lice often. Your health worker can advise you how to get rid of them (Section VII, chapter 9, Y, 5, e) (Section III, chapter 13, K, L). Lice and fleas carry many diseases. Dogs and other animals that carry fleas should not come into the house. D) Keeping the home clean Do not let pigs or other animals come into the house or anywhere children play. Do not let dogs lick children or climb up on beds. Dogs, too, can spread disease. If people or animals have a bowel movement near the house, clean it quickly, and wash your hands at once. Teach children to use a toilet, or to go farther from the house and always cover the feces well. 4 / 7

5 Do not spit on the floor. This can spread diseases like tuberculosis. When you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth with your hand or a cloth. Wash your hands afterwards. Hang or spread sheets and blankets in the sun often. It helps kill germs. Clean the house often. Sweep the floors and walls, and clean beneath furniture. Fill in cracks and holes in the floor or walls where bugs like roaches, bed bugs, and scorpions can hide. As you can see, cleanliness does not have to cost a lot of money, but it can protect your and your family from a lot of suffering. E) Cleanliness of our food and water Food and water can also spread disease very easily, especially when the water is not clean and the food is not cleaned properly, or is old or spoiled. Water that does not come from a clean water system should be boiled, filtered, or purified before drinking. This is especially important for small children. When there is a lot of diarrhea or any cholera, typhoid, or hepatitis, water should always be boiled or purified. These diseases can kill many people rapidly. See Section VI, chapter 5A for suggestions to make water safe to drink. Do not let flies or other insects crawl on food. They can carry germs that spread disease. Keep food covered. 5 / 7

6 Before eating fruit or vegetables, wash them well. Only eat meat and fish that is well cooked. Be careful that roasted meat and fish do not have raw parts inside. Pork is not good for our health, and raw pork carries dangerous diseases. Chickens carry germs that can cause diarrhea. Wash your hands after preparing chicken. Do not eat food that is old or smells bad. It may be poisonous. Before eating leftover, cooked food, boil it again. If possible, eat only foods that have been freshly prepared. This is especially important for children, elderly, or very sick people. People with tuberculosis, flu, colds or other infectious diseases should eat with their own plate, spoon, fork, knife and cup that are used only by them. These should be washed very well with soap or boiled before being used by others. F) Keeping the community clean Our health as well as our neighbor s health depends upon the community around us. It is important to make the community a safe place, free from disease. Build toilets so pigs and other animals cannot come in contact with human feces. They are easy to build, and can be made so that flies will not gather around them. Do not make them too near to your house, your water source, or the river. Keep wells and waterholes clean. Do not let animals go near where people get drinking water. You may need to build a fence to keep the animals out. 6 / 7

7 Do not have bowel movements or throw garbage near where you get your water. Burn all garbage that can be burned. This should be done often. Garbage that cannot be burned should be buried in a special pit far away from houses and places where people get drinking water. By applying these simple practices, your community will be a safer, healthier place. The Bible says, The Lord commanded us to do all these instructions for our good always, that he might preserve us alive and keep us in the best of health (Deuteronomy 6:24, KJV). 7 / 7

Let s see if I can convince you

Let s see if I can convince you Chapter 33: Page 328 How many times have you been sick in the past year? Once, twice, three times? What if I told you there are ways to keep from getting sick so many times? Would you do it? Let s see