School Latrines Project in Mali
Mali, located in Western Africa, is a landlocked nation, the seventh largest country in Africa. It borders on Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west.
This project is being done in a very poor community, currently suffering under drought conditions. A secondary school was recently constructed, but there are not yet latrines for the schoolyard.
Diarrhea and dysentery are prevalent due to lack of sanitation.
Two sanitary latrines will be constructed at a secondary school, one for boys and one for girls. In addition handwashing stations will be built.
Project funds will be used to purchase cement, rebar, tin roofing, doors, paint, and other construction materials.
Villagers will go to the fields to provide 100 donkey carts of sand, 60 carts of gravel, and 12 carts of large rocks.
Local well-diggers will dig the latrine pits. Local masons will construct the latrines and hand-washing stations. The villagers will pay for the transportation of all purchased materials. Through the extensive use of local labor and resources, sustainability will be ensured.
The project is being done under the supervision of Peace Corps Volunteer Z. Mason.
As a result of this project, 7th through 9th grade students will be able to practice proper hygiene and thereby reduce disease transmission. Girls will especially benefit from the privacy afforded by the enclosed latrines.
The participation of Water Charity in this project has now been funded, through the generosity of Six Senses Resorts & Spas as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.
Any donations using the Donate button below will go toward additional water and sanitation projects in Mali.
This project has been completed. To read about the conclusion of this project, CLICK HERE.
Conclusion of School Latrines Project - Mali
This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Zac Mason. To read about the beginning of this project, CLICK
HERE.
According to Zac:
Tounto is a settlement of some 4,000 people who are mostly simple millet farmers. They have a market, a small clinic, a primary school, and the recently built secondary school.
75 percent of all of the students at this school come down with diarrhea over the course of the year, and at least 65 percent come down with full-blown dysentery.
The project was to build sanitary latrines and handwashing stations at the Tounto Secondaire Cycle.
Zac reports:
Exceeding all expectations, we have three latrines – one for boys, one for girls, and one for teachers. And we have a barrel with a spigot that the students are going to fill with water so that they can wash their hands.
The women will provide handmade soap, and the students and adults of Tounto will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining the latrines.
Project funds were used to buy cement and other construction materials. Secondaire Cycle student body collected sand, gravel, gravel and rocks.
Brick masons made the bricks, and the Tounto Youth Association made up of young men in their teens and twenties, provided the bulk of the labor.
This project is estimated to serve 200 people. It will have a great effect on the school and community, in that it will eliminate the epidemiological hazards of open defecation. It will have the greatest effect on schoolgirls, in that it will eliminate the shame of exposing themselves to perform their bodily functions, and thereby make it easier for them to remain in school.
Our thanks go to Zac, for implementing the project despite the difficulties, and to all of the participants who made it possible.
We again wish to thank Six Senses Resorts & Spas for providing funding for this project.