Celebrating World Toilet Day 2020: Fundraising in Korogocho
World Toilet Day is a United Nations Observance that celebrates toilets and aims to raise awareness of the 4.2 billion people who are living without access to safely managed sanitation. World Toilet Day represents another effort to combat the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.
On this day, it is important to emphasize the great impact that toilets have on our health. As a result of inadequate toilets or practices such as open defecation, untreated human waste gets out into the environment and spreads deadly and chronic diseases. Sustainable sanitation systems together with adequate facilities and good hygiene practises constitute a strong defence against Covid19 and future outbreaks.
Toilets For All promotes the container-based solution approach as a sustainable sanitation system. This system follows a cycle of safe containment, collection and transport of human excreta, treatment and transformation into valuable recycling products such as fertilizers and fuels.
In its efforts to close the gap in access to clean and dignified toilets for the world´s population, Toilets For All is currently leading a fundraising campaign for the Korogocho Slum, Nairobi.
Approximately 6.4 million urban residents in Kenya live in slums without access to adequate sanitation. In the Korogocho Slum, there is one pit latrine for every 30 inhabitants. Latrines overflow due to late desludging and approximately 140m³ of faecal sludge is dumped into Nairobi river every day. In order to tackle this problem, Toilets For All is collaborating with Mobile Alert Toilets, MAT, to offer an innovative solution which consists of renovating the pit latrines with containers and sensors. The sensors monitor and send automated messages to alert MAT to empty and use the resources in a safe and hygienic way. Thanks to this process, MAT avoids polluting the local rivers whose water is also used for other purposes by the slum dwellers.
Ryeeda CBS School is the first school where MAT has successfully renovated the latrines. There are 36 schools remaining under terrible sanitary conditions. Toilets For All has launched a fundraising campaign for the Korogocho Slum, especially relevant on World Toilet Day. Learn more about our fundraising here. Help us close the gap in access to clean and dignified toilets for all, leaving no one behind.
Text written by: María Bravo Elvira