Unilever Zimbabwe through its brands Lifebuoy, Domestos and Sunlight donated a borehole and refurbished the toilets at Chizungu Primary School in Epworth, as part of 2017 Global Handwashing Day commemorations. The borehole and refurbished school toilets will benefit 2 500 children by improving their sanitation standards through access to water, while the school children learn live saving handwashing habits.
“Commemorating Global Handwashing Day provided our social mission brands – Lifebuoy, Domestos and Sunlight – with an opportunity to join forces and impact the lives of Chizungu Primary School scholars in positive and meaningful way,” said Bruno Witvoet, President of Unilever Africa. “From this borehole, the school will not only be able to get water into the toilets they will be able to pump water from the borehole for agricultural purposes which can then be sold to finance other initiatives for the school.”
Global Handwashing Day is a campaign to motivate and mobilize people around the World to improve their handwashing habits by washing their hands with soap at critical moments throughout each day. Since 2015, Lifebuoy in Zimbabwe has managed to reach more than 70 000 children through the 21-day School of 5 behavioural change initiative which teaches children the importance of handwashing with soap on 5 key occasions daily. Over and above the Schools program, Lifebuoy has managed to impact more than 1 million people through handwashing communication.
“This year we intend on reaching more lives and appeal to all Zimbabweans to upload High 5 pictures on social media with the #high5forhandwashing,” said Mr Witvoet. “For every High 5 picture shared with the correct hashtag, Unilever is going to invest in educating 5 Zimbabwe children on correct handwashing behaviour.”
“Healthy children have a better chance of having a bright future. The children of today are the scientists, professors, doctors and business leaders of tomorrow. Unilever’s commitment is to enable them to reach their full potential by educating them with the correct health and hygiene habits. The children we educate will not only practice these habits, but will take the message home, sharing the knowledge with their parents, siblings and friends to create healthier communities,” concluded Mr Witvoet.
