Red Feather Development Group

September 30, 2020

 
 
 
 

DIY sinks bring life-saving handwashing to Navajo and Hopi communities, where 72K people lack running water.

The Navajo Nation struggled with the highest U.S. COVID-19 infection rates during the height of the pandemic—and the fact that one-third of households don’t have running water in their homes has been a serious risk factor, not to mention a national scandal.

To combat this problem the community nonprofit Red Feather Development Group, which helps Navajo Nation and Hopi Nation residents make health and safety upgrades to their homes, built LavaMaeˣ-designed DIY handwashing stations that’s bringing clean hands to hundreds of Indigenous American families.

Indigenous households often are multi-generational, with eight or more family members residing in one dwelling.

"They would just put a basin of water on the table and dip their hands into it, until it got too dirty," says Joe Seidenberg, executive director of Red Feather Development Group. Families use these common bowls of handwashing water "out of necessity, to conserve water," Seidenberg adds.

COVID-19 caused a shift in Red Feather's work in the Navajo and Hopi communities. Instead of weatherization and home repairs, the organization focused on ways to give residents the resources for adequate handwashing. Seidenberg and his cohorts soon spotted do-it-yourself handwashing stations developed by LavaMaeˣ for its Clean Hands For All initiative.

"We thought it was a great idea, and thought it would encourage better handwashing," says Seidenberg.

Red Feather offered these DIY handwashing stations on its social media channels and was blown away by the response. By mid-September, they crowdfunded more than $45,000 and built over 600 DIY handwashing stations with the help of dozens of volunteers, and have hosted numerous workshops to teach community members how to build the stations on their own.

“This is the kind of impact our team dreams of,” says Kris Kepler, CEO of LavaMaeˣ, “It’s about providing organizations with information and resources to launch programs that broaden access to hygiene. Seeing Red Feather train others to bring handwashing stations to their communities is an incredible testament to the power of the ripple effect. It’s about going above and beyond to consult, support and problem solve to ensure their success.”  

The long-term solution to the Navajo and Hopi water needs is pipeline sources. "That could take decades and decades," Seidenberg said. Red Feather also began a pilot program involving solar-powered devices that extract water from the air, producing up to four liters of potable water per day.

In the meantime, these DIY handwashing stations can improve residents' ability to fight off COVID-19, and other diseases preventable by handwashing.

The Navajo and Hopi communities are making progress. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Dr. Anthony Fauci praised efforts by the Navajo Nation, noting that the number of COVID-19 cases has dropped to fewer than 20 per day, compared to 150 last Spring.

How to help

Interested in bringing handwashing stations to your community? Learn more or donate today!

 
Colton Coty