The Simple Power of Hand Washing

There are many things we as Americans take advantage of here in the US. Most Americans live in excess of water, food, and other utilities that other countries consider precious. After watching the speech, “The simple power of hand washing” by Myriam Sidibe, my eyes were opened to a precious commodity everyone takes for granted, soap. The purpose of her speech was to emphasize the use of soap in order to prevent sickness and cut down the risks of pneumonia, diarrhea, cholera, etc. Her attention getter was a statistic that got people’s attention through an emotional means. Sidibe described what the topic had meant to her as well as why it was important. Her presentation used some humorous interactions with her audience. Sidibe used a family in India as an example in order to give the audience an idea of the uses of soap in other countries. The use of soap, a commodity we take for granted, are bought by mothers to protect their families, a fact repetitively used to emphasize Sidibe’s argument. Sidibe had visited Ghana with the Minister of Health, which increases her credibility. She did not use note cards in her speech which allowed her to give more eye contact towards her audience. There weren’t a lot of pauses in her speech, so her speech flowed well as she enunciated her words and brought emphasis to certain ideas and statistics. Sidibe used many gestures while holding a soap bar and her body was upright showing confidence in her speech. The thesis and main points were easy to follow as she elaborated what the problem was, its history, background information, as well as a solution to combat this problem. The speech concluded with a emotionally pleasing conclusion. The conclusion provided no new information and re introduced the main points from the introduction. In the end of the speech Sidibe showed how much the topic had meant to her after explaining to everyone that she had a high degree in health in her country. Overall, she had a very persuasive speech that flowed naturally, appealed to all emotional standpoints, was structured nicely, statistically backed up and provided the audience with a commodity that although is common, is one of the most important inventions in combating epidemics. 

I recommend this video to people of all ages to consider twice when using commodities for granted. What seems plentiful in one country, is a precious commodity in another. Leave some comments below on some other commodities you think we take for granted or what you thought about video. That's all for tonight, this is Leonard Yalong, signing off!