So central are flush toilets to our daily lives that we easily forget how many people worldwide don’t have access to effective sanitation facilities. Imagine for a moment how different your typical work or school day would be if you were denied access to a safe, clean place to relieve yourself.
While you’re thinking, consider also the fact that the average person uses a toilet six- eight times each day! Globally this amounts to approximately 200 million tons of human waste that go uncollected and untreated, polluting the environment and exposing millions to disease.
In Wakiso District located outside of Uganda’s bustling capital city, Kampala, WaterCan’s African partner organization VAD is working hard to provide simple, yet effective sanitation and clean water facilities to communities and primary schools.
Among the five schools where VAD implemented projects during the first phase of WaterCan’s Clean Water for Schools Program (2006-2008) is St. Paul Buloba Primary School. This school, now attended by over 350 students, had no access to water supply and only a few dilapidated latrines. Long queues and filthy conditions resulted in students having no choice but to defecate in the open, creating an environment that made learning and teaching very difficult.
Below are the words of a young St. Paul Buloba Primary School pupil who now benefits from the school's ten new ventilated pit latrines, hand washing stations and 10,000-litre rain water catchment tank.
“One day when I was attacked by diarrhea, I ran very fast to the latrine in order to relieve myself. Trying to open the doors of the first 2 stances, I found them occupied. Then I tried the third stance. I was surprised to find my teacher also squatting in the latrine. Because of my bad situation, I decided to go behind the latrine to defecate.
Oh!! What a shame in my eyes and those teachers! I came back to my senses, and almost ready to burst, I rushed behind the latrine and defecated in the nearby bush. On winding up, a big rat came running towards me, what a big shame! All the pupils were looking at me, shouting and running towards me. I quickly dressed and came out of the bush!
Bravo to VAD, we now have good child-friendly latrines with privacy, with good doors and locks. We can now wash our hands after the latrine, using a good hand-washing facility which was constructed near our latrine. Well done VAD. We have five stances for boys and five stances with a washroom for girls. There is privacy and we enjoy going there.Students now enjoy the new latrines with separate blocks for boys and girls at St. Paul Buloba Primary School.
Since the construction of our new pit latrines, [water tank and hand washing stations], children hardly suffer from diarrhea and stomach pain. We enjoy using the latrines because the girls have their own stances as well as the boys. We enjoy cleaning the latrines because they are easy to clean and are well ventilated. The girls come more often to school unlike before when they remained at home during their menstruation periods.”
One of the two new 5-stall latrine blocks at St. Paul Buloba Primary. "Talking wall" murals are a common way of encouraging good hygiene practices.
