Grassroots development starts at the bottom

The final stage of Development of Gendi Primary School's Toilets is now complete

After 11 years of development work I was shocked when we first looked around the Gendi Primary School and the state of the toilets. As squat a drop toilets the pit is underneath yet the boys toilet had collapsed in on itself and so now all 700 students were using the girls toilets, where the smell was awful, the hygiene standards poor and because so many of the doors did not close/lock the privacy was non existant. 

We have built new toilets for the teachers (male and female) the boys and the girls. All are tiled so that they can be easily cleaned and toilet odours removed. The toilets are flush to that the waste matter goes to a centre pit which can be easily emptied., the cubicles are large enough and designed so that students can shower in them. Each toilet block has disabled access and facilities and the two female toilets have an incinerator to dispose of used sanitary products and sinks so that clothes can be cleaned. 

Outside if a communal hand washing facility that is currently connected to a tank fed from the mains water supply but soon will be fed from the local borehole. 

In January the MCDO team will be providing staff and students with hand washing training and soap so that these teachers and students can enjoy the same high standards that we would want if we were at that school. 

The project was part funded by the local community who provided bricks, stones, and unskilled labour and partly funding by LTT and our donor partners. The school and community now have the responsibility to maintain this toilet and ensure that is it kept clear daily.