Health and hygiene conditions improve as families in Swaziland get new toilet facilities
“We did not have a toilet at all. We used to share with our neighbor’s or at the bush to relieve ourselves”, 28-year old mother Cinile Mamba said.
“Luckily for us because of the on-going water project, we were chosen as one of the households to benefit toilets. World Vision provided us with building material. Without this help, I do not think we were going to afford to build this good-looking toilet. The toilet design is beautiful. It has a section where we can dispose children’s nappies and sanitary pads. This will enable our toilets to last longer without getting full,” Cinisile added.
Cinisile is one of the 30 households supported with building material for the pit latrines. Each household received 10 bags of cement, two corrugated iron sheets, one door, one toilet seat and one vent pipe they used to construct ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines.
This project was worth E139 800 (US$10 753.85). During the construction of the latrines, the community leaders helped monitor the progress. At least 149 children benefited from this project and presently use them that are in good standard, thus helping improve their health and hygiene status.
She further stated that using this toilet was very refreshing and once inside you can lock it for privacy. They also lock it in the evening to secure the facility. A mother of a 3-year-old daughter named Sentelweyinkhosi, Cinisile said the construction of the toilet has also made it easy for her to dispose the nappies.
Gertrude Dlamini, 45, a mother of 10 children and two grandchildren was very excited about their own toilet. “This new toilet can be locked and the seat is comfortable. To be honest this toilet looks nice and makes my home look equally good. After its completion I was so excited if I had money, I would have celebrated,” she said.
She said she never dreamt of having a good toilet with a proper seat and a door with a lock. All her previous makeshift toilets never had doors and from time to time you will be disturbed when inside.
Zandondo is a community served by World Vision’s Madlangemphisi Area Program with a total number of 438 households. It has an estimated population of 1890 people, 998 are children and amongst these 497 children sponsored by World Vision.
“This community is one of the driest areas in the program and water is very scarce. This has been a challenge for the past 10 years since there are no rains and water sources. Boreholes, rivers and springs have dried up due to drought prevailing in the country.
The situation has affected agriculture, schools were forced to stop vegetables production and households have to buy water from neighboring chiefdom through water tankers,” Program Manager Nozizwe Ngwenya said.
Highlighting the challenges that come with scarcity of water, the community water committees wrote a request to World Vision requesting for assistance in constructing a reliable water source that will sustain the whole community. The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) team did an assessment and discovered that among the 438 households, 30 of them did not have pit latrines. They used to defecate in forests and this compromised not only their own health and hygiene, but also other people in the community.
The construction of the 30 latrines commenced along with the water system with project name Zandondo Water Supply Scheme. This project is divided in to two phases and the first phase has been completed worth E 7,415 576.00 (US$570 424). The construction is expected to be fully complete next year.
