What a latrine means to a girl child

By Editha Mushi, Senior Communication Officer- World Vision Tanzania

I was once an adolescent.  Our social welfare teacher and my mother had already spoken to us about what would happen at pubic stage but I was still scared. I still had concerns on how those changes would feel like. I could only comfort myself with positivity.

Knowing I was going to Endabash Secondary School in Karatu - northern part of Tanzania, my mind was jiggling around my time and privileges I had following the fact that I was living in the city with access to anything that I need to gear up for my adulthood.

At Endabash Secondary School boys are seen playing at the football pitch while girls cheering their teams.  We sat with few teachers for a chat and later on we were introduced to Janeth Joel (15) and Ashrafa Adris (16), form two students and champions of menstrual hygiene at the school.

The two girls begun telling us about the school environment especially the toilets before World Vision’s intervention in 2018.  ”We had poor latrines.  Due to serious shortage of water, we used to come to school with a bucket of water”. Says Janeth

According to Janeth, some of school girls suffered infectious diseases such as urinary tract infection (UTI). Due to menstruation and unfriendly environment at school, some of the girls missed classes for at least 5 days every month.

 “I used to be scared when my menstrual days approached. I worried about getting dirty. I just couldn’t stand stomach pain. It was just so uncomfortable that you do not have enough water and space at school to get yourself cleaned” said Janeth shyly

Asharaf added, “It was so difficult to behave the same while on my days, and it was easy for boys to notice and start laughing at me. I just had to hide and stay home for all those days. It was the best solution I could think”.

 Amina Iddi, a students’ Welfare Teacher at Endabash Secondary School   highlighted “we are thankful to World Vision Tanzania for building new toilet with enough space and private rooms for girls which are also accessible to students with disabilities. The toilet has enough water flow and incinerator for burning used pads”.

“World Vision organized awareness raising sessions on hygiene, menstrual heath and sexual reproductive issues. The interventions have become useful for our students who are also hygiene ambassadors in our village” she added.

“I enjoy privacy and cleanness in our new toilets. All of us are so busy making sure we do not destroy this valuable asset. We attend school even during menstruation days” Revealed Janeth.

“Another organization came to our school and provided us with sanitary pads. We now do not have to walk out with dirt materials such as rags that we used during menstruation” Narrated Ashrafa.

With the implementation of ‘Karatu Ending Violence Against Children’ project that began in October 2017 World Vision Tanzania has trained students from 6 schools and constructed modern toilets for the schools. 

The recently launched ‘girl empowerment’ project focuses on empowering girls on menstrual hygiene issues,  construction of girls friendly toilets, distribution of reusable sanitary pads and conduct adolescents forums to raise awareness on gender based violence, economic empowerment and good leadership.