Blog: sanitation project in slums Kenya
Wikipedia: Kibera (Nubian: Forest or Jungle) is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa. The 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census reports Kibera's population as 170,070, contrary to previous estimates of one or two million people.
Introducing Patricia Okello
My name is Patricia Okello I live in Kibera (Keya, Africa) in a small village called Silanga. I am a single parent and i have two daughters and three grandchildren, before peepoople came i used to sell samosas and it was very difficult to make ends meet,apart from that my family and i had a big problem of accessing clean and hygienic toilets because where we live there is no toilet in the plot. When peepoo bags was introduced in Kibera i was one of the people who did the field test and i was very happy to see how the bags were helping people including myself and my family. i wanted to be part of the project so they gave me a job as a sales woman and I’m proud of my job because i see how i positively impact my community I’m glad to say that i can access a hygienic toilet any time of the day or night.
The Peepoo is a life saver because the toilets in Kibera are in terrible condition. The most affected people are women and children since they spend most of their time at home. Women are mostly engaged in small scale businesses or housewives; children spend time with their mothers few go to governmental schools and the rest go to the schools within the settlement. Most plots also lack decent toilets, the available pit latrines are shared by more than 15households and when it is shared issues of operation and maintain become difficult thus making the latrines very dirty leading to difficulty in accessibility for children and even adults especially at night. There are some within the plots that are not very dirty but they are always locked denying people accessibility. Such toilets are maintained by members of the plot and when they full cost of exhausting is shared between the tenants and when one does not contribute to the exhaustion cost then they are denied the key to the lock. The government has also made some interventions in building some pit latrines. However due to lack of proper management, poor operation and maintenance the toilets end up being in a poor condition and instead of serving the community they end being locked to serve only a few individuals an example is the one shown below toilets are not well maintained and some have no doors so you have to wait till its dark to use the toilets. The Peepoo has made our lives easier and we do not have to suffer because of lack of toilet. It is easy to use and can be used by all sexes, all ages and can be used anytime of the night not forgetting it’s clean. - Patricia, Kibera, Kenya
Gepubliceerd op: 21/12/2011
