Etalem

Etalem is the youngest of four children. She is 15 years old and in the eighth grade.

Etalem does well in school—her favorite subject is citizenship and when she grows up, she wants to be a judge so she can contribute to Ethiopia’s justice system and foster gender equality. She also enjoys cooking and reading.

At school, Etalem knows how to stay busy! She is the president of the hygiene club. They meet once a month, but each member facilitates a hygiene-related activity for other students at least once a week. They also share a schedule for cleaning, sharing hygiene education with other students, and planning celebratory activities, like World Toilet Day. Etalem also makes sure that the girls in the hygiene club have equal opportunities to the boys.

Etalem says, “Before the hygiene club, some students used to complain about stomach disease. However, after the hygiene club was formed, I see changes in students' behavior. For example, they wash their hands before eating and they have access to clean drinking water. And I feel happy when I see students keeping their hygiene.”

Teacher-led trainings have helped Etalem and other students as well. She says that at first, she wasn’t sure which Splash stations were for drinking and which were for handwashing. Her teachers showed them that the orange stations were for handwashing and the blue stations for drinking, and she said it is easy to distinguish now that she knows what the colors mean.

The training also included sessions that helped Etalem recognize the steps and duration of handwashing and why you need to drink treated water—she even learned how to treat water in her own home!

With her leadership in the hygiene club and her dedication to her studies, Etalem is well on her way to becoming a significant force for positive change in her community and beyond.