Keeping first impressions clean

It goes without saying that hygiene is very important, as it is the first thing people notice. A friend last week explained how she went to a canteen last week to eat, but instead got an irritating experience. “I was so hungry that I was willing to eat anything I was offered at the canteen, but the place had an awful smell. All the service ladies looked roughly dressed but had make-up of all sorts on their faces. They used the hand towel which was meant for customers to clean their hands after eating to clean their faces, mouths and sometimes armpits before folding and keeping on the table. I had to leave,” Nana Ibrahim Raji explained.
Ngozi Brown, 30, is an Assistant Lecturer who believes poor hygiene is a result of poor hygiene. “These sorts of people can be really frustrating because they go about their business with all sense of pride. I have had a terrible experience with such ignorant people and tried to explain to them but instead they took offence and started speaking in their local dialect among themselves and surprisingly they started mimicking what I said and making jest of me. I was so annoyed I had to leave the place.”
Roselyn Awuzie, a 35-year-old banker, says some women just don’t get that hygiene is key to a happy home. “It’s amazing how some women neglect the aspect of hygiene when they are trying to establish their home. Especially some who might have just put to bed. They forget that at that stage they are at risk to being easily infected. Some breastfeeding mothers use one bra for more than two days, which is hazardous for the baby. I went to visit my hubby’s friend and his wife, because I couldn’t make it to their daughter’s birthday party. My experience that day was shocking. This woman wears the best of clothes and jewellery but I was amazed at the cup she served us with, which was smelly. The TV set was dusty and their sitting room was a mess. This is a woman who is a full-time housewife. It was then I understood why her husband is always out with friends and why he was seated outside reading a newspaper when we arrived.  We forget that with hygiene we can keep our men glued home. Women really need to sit up on hygiene matters.”
Maryam Wakil, a 35-year-old entrepreneur, says such people should be educated. “When I meet such people, I take time to educate them on the need for proper hygiene habits. It pays to educate them because she too will one day educate someone else.  Education is continuous. When you educate a woman, you educate the world. If we ignore such people, we are not helping. But the best thing is to correct in a polite manner. Also let her know that such behaviour will send customers away.”
38-year-old Fatima Wakil Ahmed disagrees with her sister Maryam on the issue of educating an adult on hygiene. “It is easy to say but difficult to execute. How can you educate and adult and one you don’t know. You can only educate your friend or relation, not a stranger, as you don’t know if she will take offence at your lecture. Some of them will end up embarrassing you and calling you names, so I advise we only educate those close to us and understand where we are coming from concerning hygiene.”
Marriage Counsellor, Maryam Abdullahi says hygiene should be the priority for any woman, and even men. “No man wants to get married to a woman who is not clean. The love he had for you before marriage will diminish if you are not hygiene-conscious. We know of women who wear the fanciest and most expensive clothes and perfumes but are actually very nonchalant with their hygiene out of sheer laziness or ignorance. Holy books have made us understand that cleanliness is next to Godliness.”
Abdullahi continued: “As mothers let’s try and be clean, at all times, in our homes, in our business places and our offices. If we show good example of cleanliness at all times, our daughters and even sons grow up knowing that being dirty is bad. Charity begins at home; some people are dirty because it’s what they have seen all through their lives. My Father was always strict on how a woman should always be clean and neat. So men should also make sure that they also assist in helping imbibe cleanliness in children. Hygiene can represent first impressions people have of us.”