The grossest thing I've ever seen

A community hand washing demonstration in a village in Habiganj.

Everyone knows that they are supposed to wash their hands.  And yet, many don't.  So many people still get sick sick from things that simple hand washing can prevent.

One of the techniques that our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program uses is a simple public demonstration.

A community educator gathers up a group of villagers and ask one person to come up to the front.  First the educator asks the volunteer to wash his/her hands just with water.  She pours water from a pitcher over their hands and catches all the water in a glass bowl.  Already anyone can see that the water is dirty.

A community educator leading a similar session for adolescent girls.

Then the educator gives the volunteer soap and asks her to thoroughly wash her hands again.  Once she's finished, the educator pours water over her hands again, catching the water in another glass bowl.  This time the water is practically black with dirt.

Another demonstration going on nearby for younger children.

The community educator holds up the bowl and says, "see how dirty your  hands are before washing them?  Do you really want to eat that?"

In the community educator's right hand, the post-rinse water from
washing with soap, on her left, the water-only rinse.

Every time I see the demonstration, I feel really squeamish about eating and wash my hands with extra vigor for a few weeks.  Obviously a lot of the "bad stuff" on your hands is invisible, but that's besides the point: the stuff you can see might be enough of a motivator.

How else can we use demonstrations like this to teach important healthy behaviors?