Kenya Red Cross is in the early stage of rolling out a sanitation project in Isiolo and Samburu County of Kenya. The project is targeting schools in the region and it will mainly be ecological sanitation and hygiene promotion among other related activities.
The initial stage of community mobilization has been difficult due to religion and cultural restrictions on issues of sanitation.
The target community are basically pastrolists and are used to moving from one place to the other in search of pasture and water. Targeting schools will therefore be a better option in the project. Ecological sanitation is also challenging to impress now that the community is generally practicing open defecation as an alternative.
There are very few pit latrines in the area if any.
The same community does not practice agriculture and they wonder why someone has to recycle human urine and fecal matter for agriculture yet even the decomposed cow-dung in their home lie like huge mountains that are never used. There is also a funny belief that the 'Morans' never go to toilets and therefore they don't need these facilities.
The stakeholders awareness campaign i did in the region after being requested by Red Cross project management yielded good fruits. They were convinced that ecological sanitation is possible especially looking at the waste treatment side and convenience. The project also suggest to start some small form of agriculture within the schools so as to reuse these ecosan products.
The stakeholders were taken all along from Isiolo to Mombasa to see such a toilet in use in a Muslim school set up. Most people were wondering why they should be taken that far for the tour but they were later convinced when we arrived at Ukunda in South Coast. The anal cleansing with water was given special attention during the visit at the school. They were amazed at how the teacher was handling the decomposed solid waste with bare hands. The Public Health Officers within the visiting stakeholders wanted to see the quality analysis done for the byproducts to ensure that the products are safe for handling by human beings. This analysis report was not done by the implementing team of engineers but the school director promised to do this soon.
The team left for Isiolo a 14 hours journey by road ready to roll down the project in schools.
If you have any advice and comment, you are welcome.
This information has been given freely by:
Wakala Moses -Ecosan Expert Kenya
Tel: +254721743171. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thank you Moses for presenting us some new developments of construction of UDDTs in Kenya.

The project at the Ukunda School that was mentioned was developed by Engineers without Borders - division Aachen, Germany. More information about it can be found at the Ecosan Network Kenya:

Engineers Without Borders in Ukunda: School sanitation with UDDTs

Update on Engineers Without Borders in Ukunda: Construction of school UDDTs completed

Best regards,
Cecília.

halo Mr. Wakala Moses

Thanks for the information, please can you provide us with some information on the photo 2. I would like to know what does tanks do. We do have particular interest in nutrient recovery.

Ssebabi Deo
Technical Director (CAGIEA)
www.cagiea.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dear Ssebabi,

Those tanks that you ask about are urine storage tanks. They are there to store the urine in order to sanitise the urine (if it has been contaminated with some faeces as a result of cross-contamination) and also to bridge gaps in fertiliser need (or in collection frequency if collected by tanker and taken to another site).

There are more photos from these toilets when they were still brand spanking new in April 2011 (including nice 3D drawings) here:
www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/sets/72157628950684835/

At the time, when we saw the photos, we (Christian Rieck and myself) were wondering if these tanks were not a bit over-engineered, i.e. more complex than necessary. It is great to hear from Moses that these toilets are still being used well. I would like to know how long it takes to fill the tanks and whether urine reuse is being practiced now at this school? Is all the pipe work and valves still working well? How is the maintenance being organised (can be such a big headache with school toilets).

Cheers,
Elisabeth

One photo example as a teaser (see more by clicking on the flickr link above):

Toilet back by Sustainable sanitation, on Flickr

Hello Elisabeth,

as it happens, i'm right at the side of the toilets at the moment. I'm evaluating the procject at an intermediate stage and was also present during the visit by the Kenya Red Cross. Unfortunately I can't be seen on the pictures. But anyway, it was a great meeting. Thank you!
Currently I am preparing a report for the use of the toilet regarding maintenance, usage and benefits of it. But to answer your questions in advance:
- It takes almost three weeks to fill up the tanks and the urine and manua is used in the schoolgarden as well as in the farm next door.
- Yes, all valves and pipes are still in good condition.
- The school principal, head-teacher and janitor provide for the maintenance, whereby the main part is taken over by the janitor of course.

Cheers,
Torsten

Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V.
Germany
torsten.hummen@ingenieure-ohne-grenzen.org