Globally, 58% of children aged five years or under die from infectious diseases (WHO 2011). This is mainly due to the large number of families using unsafe water, practicing poor hygiene/sanitation, and eating a poor diet
The Three Stones Preventative Health Programme is designed to train and teach rural villagers how to reduce the incidence of preventable diseases that are rampant in developing countries. Improved health status promotes the familes welfare by reducing transport and treatment cost therefore resulting in poverty elimination by increasing household disposable income
Villagers cook their food, by balancing their cooking pot on three stones, over an open fire. They understand that if one stone breaks, the pot will fall, losing the family’s food.
The programme uses this cooking method as an analogy to teach villagers that the three foundational stones of health are safe water, proper hygiene/sanitation and a balanced diet. As with the cooking pot, all three stones are essential. If one stone “breaks”, the family can fall prey to preventable diseases such as Malaria, TB, Typhoid and Cholera.
The Three Stones Programme:
Emphasizes the intricate relationship between safe water, proper personal hygiene and household sanitation, in addition to balanced diet.
Delivers easily-understood quality training to rural communities covering basic practical skills.
Encourages the participation of both men and women. As head of the household, training husbands (in addition to wives) fosters a more unified approach to improving family health.
Teaches parents how to train their children good health practices. This promotes generational behavior and attitude change passed on from parent to child.
Teaches awareness of how to use available resources more effectively by retaining environmental and cultural values.
Course attendees are identified and selected from communities and churches of all denominations by their leaders.
Working through churches in the rural communities is advantageous for the following reasons:
Ugandan churches are respected and effective channel of communication.
Church members are known to provide a ready and willing volunteer workforce.
Training sessions take place in the local communities, participants learn how to:
Differentiate between clean water and safe water.
Prevent HIV/AIDs, Malaria, Diarrheoa, TB, and many communicable deseases by practicing the 3 Stones approach.
Make a ‘Tippy Tap’ for improved hand washing techniques.
Make a ‘Fly Trap’ for reduction of fly borne diseases.
Maintain a latrine.
Keep homes and compounds clean and tidy.
Implement improved nutrition as part of disease prevention.
Improve farming methods for greater crop diversity
Stone 1- Safe Water
The emphasis of this ‘stone’ is that water from village sources is not safe for drinking unless it is boiled before drinking it. This reduces the incidence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid. Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of death in children under the age of five years worldwide.
Stone 2- Proper hygiene and sanitation
This ‘stone’ focuses on proper hygiene and good sanitation practices for the individual, the family and the community. This includes hand washing which is a simple procedure that prevents the spread of many infections.
A Tippy Tap (right) is a simple device made using local materials that enables villagers to wash their hands effectively e.g after visiting the toilet.
A Fly Trap is another simple piece of equipment that villagers can use to control flies and improve sanitation. The Fly Traps are placed near latrines and kitchens. These two simple procedures (the tippy tap and fly trap) can have a major impact on the health of the community.
Stone 3- Balanced Diet
This ‘stone’ teaches the importance of a balanced diet for the maintenance of a healthy immune system in order to fight diseases.
There is a belief in rural communities that vegetables are for the less privileged. So people don’t find pride in eating them.
If you can help support a family £300 educates a family for 3 years – £100 a year or £8.35 a month for three years.
Donate Here
Patricia Crook set up The Three Stones Health Programme in Uganda and is from the UK, has a nursing background, was Senior Ward Sister/ Nursing Officer responsible for Post Grad training in a state UK hospital. She has worked in the training and management field in the UK for 25 years. Her strengths are her capability to develop people and systems and in organising training. She works best with a team around her. She is a visionary and when projects are set up and running well she has the capability to hand them over.
Her family is in the UK, being two daughters, sons in law and three grandchildren. She first arrived in Africa in 1993 and has lived in Uganda for 11 years. Her heart is with Ugandan villagers.
Ruth’s testimony 2015
This is just one of many stories of how the training has helped families.
Quote; ‘Before I get training, I was not good. Because I were getting ill all the time and I were spending much money in hospital and clinics. After studying how to use safe water and wash hands after visiting toilet then my family became healthy. The training has helped my family to save money which I would be spending on medication. I am now saving it and I have good health because of eating balanced diet. I am now paying school fees of my children. On that savings I have now managed to buy a second hand motor cycle which is 1,400,000.Ugandan Shillings (£400)’
A motorbike is used for generating household income, transporting people and goods.
After training Ruth has been able to buy the house she was originally renting. Inside the house she has partitioned of an area to use as a shop, again generating income.
She has also been selected to be a parish health chair person, when the TSPHP trainer visited Ruth, un-announced, she was busy training in the village. People appreciate her because of the training as they are now recognising and understanding the value of latrines, tippy taps and boiling their drinking water.
She states quote ‘How the training has helped my church:
The training has helped me to teach the church members to also become role models. Three families have believed Jesus Christ because of the training after teaching them the difference between diarrhoea and demons because most of the believers were saying that diarrhoea is caused by demons in the community. I have also helped 4 churches to build improved pit latrines (Toilets) with Tippy Taps.
It Costs just £300 for a whole family to be educated by the 3 Stones Project in 3 years. Yes £100 a year for 3 years educates a whole family! And that family sets an example for the whole village and other families change their own methods and they have a healthier life and more money in their own pockets too. Lives and villages transformed!
If you can help support a family £300 educates a family for 3 years – £100 a year or £8.35 a month for three years.
Donate Here
