NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 19 – As the country marks the World Toilet Day this year, hundreds of lives in majority of slums are still at risk of diseases linked to poor sanitation as they lack access to free public toilets.
In Nairobi alone, access to sanitation has been one of the largest issues with statistics by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, indicating that only 29 per cent of the population has access to sanitation facilities.
A huge chunk of the 71 per cent of residents who lack access to basic sanitation facilities live in slums. The residents here have normalized living unhygienic conditions as filthy sewage water flows freely within their compounds where children play.
Residents of Nairobi’s Mukuru kwa Reuben slum are among the 2.3 billion people around the world who lack access to basic toilets and a proper sewerage system. A testament to this being that within a three-metre radius, there exist no free public toilets.
As a resident of the slum, you have to dip into your pocket when a need arises as most of the facilities are pay up toilets.
Dorcas Wambua is a resident in Mukuru kwa Reuben having lived in the slums for the last ten years. She narrates that lack of access to public toilets made flying toilets and open defecation the order of the day in the slums where most families fall below the poverty line.
“Lack of access to public toilet has always been an issue here. Previously before we had the pay up toilets, open defacation and flying toilet was a norm. The tricky situation is when you have children and when they have disease such as diarrhea you cant walk for miles looking for a sanitation facility. Open defacation or flying toilets become the resort,” Wambua said.
The cost of access to toilets is a heavy burden to residents in the slums. The residents struggle to put food on their table and hence cannot afford paying for toilets leading to open defecation.
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“Honestly, having pay up toilets has really bridged the gap when it comes to the sanitation issues in this slum because now the issues filthy waste in the neighborhood has reduced significantly. In my house we use pay up toilets but not many can afford the Sh 5 to pay for every visit, the government should just provide access to sanitation facilities,” Wambua insisted.
The solution to the sanitation crisis is more complicated than providing every communities with public toilets. Often, slums lack sewer systems. Few toilets which exists empty human waste into fresh waterways and land, resulting in contamination of the environment and spreading of waterborne diseases.
At the same time, traditional sewered toilets require vast quantities of water, a resource that is often limited in areas subject to sanitation issues like slums.
To address the challenges arising from lack of water and sewerage infrastructure, Fresh Life Initiative, an eco-initiative, has rolled out a solution to the sanitation crisis with its waterless toilet system. Dubbed ‘dry toilets”, the toilets use sawdust as opposed to water to maintain their cleanliness in a region where access to water is a challenge.
Fresh life Initiative has installed 5,000 sanitation facilities across 11 informal settlements within Nairobi, which are pay up toilets.
Margret Wambui is a vendor in the toilet business, who admits that the dry toilets are sustainable in the congested slum area.
“In this toilet business, I appreciate the use of saw dust as compared to water because the reality is access to water here in slums is not as sustainable. The Fresh Life toilets have no smell, they will never be a crisis that the facilities are closed due to lack of water,” Wambui stated.
Wambui admits that paying for toilets is an expensive affair but can never equate to the negative effects that come with poor sanitation.
“As a resident here, we would rather have pay up toilets than have our children and family members dodge filthy human waste on a daily basis as they walk across Mukuru kwa Reuben due to lack of access to toilets. I believe the affordability of the Fresh pay up toilets has improved sanitation in this slum and averted diseases,” she said.
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In terms of business, she admits that the challenges occur when customers come at night and in some cases, she has to be awake all through.
“As you well know the call of nature waits for no man. The inconvenience at times is that customers call me in the middle of the night so that they can access the facility,” Wambui stated.
Fresh Life External Relations Manager Sheila Kibuthu says the unique concept about the toilets is that the waste is recycled in a circular approach thus leading to proper waste management.
The waste is safely secured away in barrels beneath the toilet, these are collected and processed to produce fertilizers and animal feeds. Twice a day, a team from the organization comes to pick the waste once it fills up.
“We provide a sustainable waste management service. On a regular basis, the waste generated is treated and upcycled with other forms of organic waste.We make sure that waste doesn’t cause diseases and pathogens where people live,” Kibuthu says.
Kibuthu claims that lack of well curtailed solution has made urban residence lack access to basic necessities such as toilets.
“Cities are growing very fast and we don’t have a lot of time and budgets to build solutions that are financially extensive. We need to adapt to new solution and they need to be scaled to reach all, through partnership with the National government.This is so as to subsidize the cost in providing sanitation,” the Fresh Life External Relations Manager said.
Kibuthi noted that with the country working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of clean water and sanitation by 2030, there is need for concerted effort to ensure accessibility for all with the projected increase in urban populations.
“Kenya has made strides in terms of ensuring access to sanitation an making other innovative solutions like the Kenya Environmental Sanitation Hygiene policy(KESH) launched in 2017 but there is more to be done. We are looking at accelerate access to everyone by collaborating with the government to reach where they cant reach,” Kibuthu said.
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