Volunteerism
Toilets for Tanzania - GSP Project
Summary:
My project stemmed from my trip last May when I studied abroad in Tanzania. I completed my math capstone by teaching mathematics and chemistry to the students of the Arusha private school, Sekei. The trip opened my eyes to the realization that in America we are blessed with many things we take for granted, the most prevalent being our sanitation. In Tanzania, students do not have the luxury of clean, safe schools, but instead have roughly established buildings that may or may not have a restroom, a water source, or somewhere for the students to wash their hands. This lack of sanitation causes illnesses to spread among the students. Water-related diseases alone cost children 443 million school days each year with 80% of the illnesses linked to poor water and sanitation conditions (The Water Project). Statistics also show that less than 1/3 people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to a proper toilet.
All of this got me wondering what I could do to help. I decided I wanted to help depreciate the number of school days lost to children by providing them better sanitation within the schools. Toilets and hand washing stations were soon my number one Google search as I researched the most sustainable, affordable, useful systems for sanitation. During this hunt for a sanitation savior I was introduced to Kimberly Fogg who founded the organization Global Sustainable Partnerships, (GSP). GSP has a mission similar to mine and has already helped bring water purification systems to over 50 public schools in Tanzania. My project, "Toilets for Tanzania" is an add-on to GSP to provide three public schools a set of hand washing stations and four toilets, (two boys and two girls). This project is an amazing endeavor to be a part of since the end product is sure to be something that makes going to school more enjoyable for the students, (since they will avoid more sicknesses), will help the economy of the area since all the parts of the toilets are found in the country, and will be self-sustaining and long lasting because compostable toilets allow for continual re-filling and emptying.
After talking to friends who reside in Tanzania, I determined the budget of the project to be $10,000, (this includes supplies, transportation of goods, and labor costs only - none of my personal travel fees will be covered by this project). As a college student with a limited budget myself I worked to find creative ways to fundraise for this project. Being on Grand Valley’s campus prompted me to host a program to help aware others of the struggles faced by the people of Tanzania. The event, Water Wars, was a big success and helped bring in $125 towards the project. Others soon followed, and the current donation total is $600. The rest of the $10,000 will be raised by December 2013 so the project can be completed in January 2014. My project will end there, but my mission to bring sanitation to schools will not.
The progress of this sanitation project is available on the GSP website, under "Toilets and Sanitation Systems."
Reflections:
Working on this project has opened my mind to a lot of issues facing the people of Tanzania, Africa. Before beginning, I knew there were issues the Tanzanian children were facing, but now I realize just how problematic the situation truly is. To give some background on the sanitation crisis I think it is best to review some statistics of current conditions. 26 million Tanzanians use unsanitary or shared latrines with 5.4 million of them defecating in the open with the poorest quintile 41 times more likely to defecate in the open than the richest (WSP). Looking into this issue of defecation leads to the discovery that almost 2.5 days a year are lost each year finding a private place to defecate, however more are probably lost considering women must also find a private place for their children to defecate and for themselves to urinate (WSP). Tanzanians are perishing because of these conditions. In fact about 26,500 Tanzanians, consisting of 18,500 children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea (WSP). Of these passing away, 90% of them suffer because of poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Being sick requires the children to stay home from school and thus miss out on the work and information covered that day (WSP). Every hour 115 people in Africa die from diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and contaminated water (UN).
In addition to learning about the poverty struggles, I also became better at a lot of life skills including communicating with people, organizing fundraising events, organizing a group of talented GV students to help plan the restrooms, creating a webpage, and finding support for a great cause. Communication between my supervisor and myself was tricky at times considering that most of the time we were not in the same state. Kimberly and I used e-mail as our primary means of communication, but also talked on the phone at least once a month to keep each other in the loop of what was happening with the project. Support came from many people on campus in between our meetings, which made this project possible. Ross Ezinga, Jakob Slep, and Peter Walblay all met with me biweekly to brainstorm ideas about the toilets. Each meeting I took notes on what was discussed, which was wonderful to reference to later. The biggest obstacle, was how to build these latrines. They needed to be sanitary, user friendly, and sustainable – three things that are very hard to put into one invention. The internet became our best friend as we researched latrines through both articles and videos. Why re-invent the wheel we thought, and our thoughts were correct! We came across compostable toilets after about a month of research. The great thing about compostable toilets is that they are very long lasting and easy to maintain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZwOqLJvBA
Working as a group, we decided upon a model that was sustainable, made with resources found in-country, and functional. Compostable toilets are very basic. They consist of two cylindrical holes in the ground with brick linings and a slab of concrete on the top with a hole cut out for the people to stand and use the facilities. One hole will be completely covered at a time while the other hole fills up. When a hole fills to the top it will be topped with soil and covered to dry while the second hole is in use. After allowing the waste in the first hole to dry for some time, it can be emptied and buried in an area where students will not be playing so it can naturally integrate within the ground. Following the emptying of the first hole, the second hole will be covered with dirt and a slab of concrete and left to dry. This process will continue endlessly. The shelter for the building will be made of sheet metal with reinforcing steel bars for stability. Using sheet metal will make the shelter not only affordable, but also easy to move between the holes in the ground.
Hand washing stations will be available directly outside of the restrooms and will consist of plastic jugs, found in country, that are cleaned and filled with rainwater that has been collected. Liquid soap will be added to the water and mixed well. The jugs will have a few holes near the cap of the plastic jug to allow for water to exit. Attached to the cap will be a string that also attaches to a stick on the ground. A metal rod will be put through the handle of the plastic jug and will be reinforced by two metal forks in the ground that will hold the jugs off the ground. When the stick on the ground is pressed down with the foot, the water will pour out of the cap of the bottle onto the children’s hands. This will limit the amount of water used, will be very easy to maintain because all items are found in Tanzania, and will improve the children’s sanitation.
Both the bathrooms and hand washing stations will be built in three schools in Tanzania. A guide will be provided to the people with instructions of how the facilities work, how to maintain them, and what to do if something stops working correctly. This write-up will be given to the head masters of the schools so the documents are preserved and safe. One of the GSP affiliates, Mary, will be living in Tanzania and will be periodically checking in on the schools to see that the bathrooms are still functioning correctly and are being used appropriately. Any concerns will be addressed at this time.
This project will be officially completed in 2014. There have been a total of six fundraising events, each of which have earned about $100 towards the project. The total contributions at about $600 today. Other fundraising endeavors are currently underway and will continue through the fall until December. The most important part of this project is to spread awareness about the issues facing the children of Africa. Sanitation is a struggle for these people and through GSP we will support children in their educational journey.
Find us on Facebook: GSP - Toilets for Tanzania
Check out GSP's Website for more details!
Other sanitation informational sources:
Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Africa Information
United Nations Water Campaign
Events Hosted on GVSU Campus:
Water Wars - March 2013
Water Wars - October 2013
My project stemmed from my trip last May when I studied abroad in Tanzania. I completed my math capstone by teaching mathematics and chemistry to the students of the Arusha private school, Sekei. The trip opened my eyes to the realization that in America we are blessed with many things we take for granted, the most prevalent being our sanitation. In Tanzania, students do not have the luxury of clean, safe schools, but instead have roughly established buildings that may or may not have a restroom, a water source, or somewhere for the students to wash their hands. This lack of sanitation causes illnesses to spread among the students. Water-related diseases alone cost children 443 million school days each year with 80% of the illnesses linked to poor water and sanitation conditions (The Water Project). Statistics also show that less than 1/3 people in Sub-Saharan Africa have access to a proper toilet.
All of this got me wondering what I could do to help. I decided I wanted to help depreciate the number of school days lost to children by providing them better sanitation within the schools. Toilets and hand washing stations were soon my number one Google search as I researched the most sustainable, affordable, useful systems for sanitation. During this hunt for a sanitation savior I was introduced to Kimberly Fogg who founded the organization Global Sustainable Partnerships, (GSP). GSP has a mission similar to mine and has already helped bring water purification systems to over 50 public schools in Tanzania. My project, "Toilets for Tanzania" is an add-on to GSP to provide three public schools a set of hand washing stations and four toilets, (two boys and two girls). This project is an amazing endeavor to be a part of since the end product is sure to be something that makes going to school more enjoyable for the students, (since they will avoid more sicknesses), will help the economy of the area since all the parts of the toilets are found in the country, and will be self-sustaining and long lasting because compostable toilets allow for continual re-filling and emptying.
After talking to friends who reside in Tanzania, I determined the budget of the project to be $10,000, (this includes supplies, transportation of goods, and labor costs only - none of my personal travel fees will be covered by this project). As a college student with a limited budget myself I worked to find creative ways to fundraise for this project. Being on Grand Valley’s campus prompted me to host a program to help aware others of the struggles faced by the people of Tanzania. The event, Water Wars, was a big success and helped bring in $125 towards the project. Others soon followed, and the current donation total is $600. The rest of the $10,000 will be raised by December 2013 so the project can be completed in January 2014. My project will end there, but my mission to bring sanitation to schools will not.
The progress of this sanitation project is available on the GSP website, under "Toilets and Sanitation Systems."
Reflections:
Working on this project has opened my mind to a lot of issues facing the people of Tanzania, Africa. Before beginning, I knew there were issues the Tanzanian children were facing, but now I realize just how problematic the situation truly is. To give some background on the sanitation crisis I think it is best to review some statistics of current conditions. 26 million Tanzanians use unsanitary or shared latrines with 5.4 million of them defecating in the open with the poorest quintile 41 times more likely to defecate in the open than the richest (WSP). Looking into this issue of defecation leads to the discovery that almost 2.5 days a year are lost each year finding a private place to defecate, however more are probably lost considering women must also find a private place for their children to defecate and for themselves to urinate (WSP). Tanzanians are perishing because of these conditions. In fact about 26,500 Tanzanians, consisting of 18,500 children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea (WSP). Of these passing away, 90% of them suffer because of poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Being sick requires the children to stay home from school and thus miss out on the work and information covered that day (WSP). Every hour 115 people in Africa die from diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and contaminated water (UN).
In addition to learning about the poverty struggles, I also became better at a lot of life skills including communicating with people, organizing fundraising events, organizing a group of talented GV students to help plan the restrooms, creating a webpage, and finding support for a great cause. Communication between my supervisor and myself was tricky at times considering that most of the time we were not in the same state. Kimberly and I used e-mail as our primary means of communication, but also talked on the phone at least once a month to keep each other in the loop of what was happening with the project. Support came from many people on campus in between our meetings, which made this project possible. Ross Ezinga, Jakob Slep, and Peter Walblay all met with me biweekly to brainstorm ideas about the toilets. Each meeting I took notes on what was discussed, which was wonderful to reference to later. The biggest obstacle, was how to build these latrines. They needed to be sanitary, user friendly, and sustainable – three things that are very hard to put into one invention. The internet became our best friend as we researched latrines through both articles and videos. Why re-invent the wheel we thought, and our thoughts were correct! We came across compostable toilets after about a month of research. The great thing about compostable toilets is that they are very long lasting and easy to maintain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZwOqLJvBA
Working as a group, we decided upon a model that was sustainable, made with resources found in-country, and functional. Compostable toilets are very basic. They consist of two cylindrical holes in the ground with brick linings and a slab of concrete on the top with a hole cut out for the people to stand and use the facilities. One hole will be completely covered at a time while the other hole fills up. When a hole fills to the top it will be topped with soil and covered to dry while the second hole is in use. After allowing the waste in the first hole to dry for some time, it can be emptied and buried in an area where students will not be playing so it can naturally integrate within the ground. Following the emptying of the first hole, the second hole will be covered with dirt and a slab of concrete and left to dry. This process will continue endlessly. The shelter for the building will be made of sheet metal with reinforcing steel bars for stability. Using sheet metal will make the shelter not only affordable, but also easy to move between the holes in the ground.
Hand washing stations will be available directly outside of the restrooms and will consist of plastic jugs, found in country, that are cleaned and filled with rainwater that has been collected. Liquid soap will be added to the water and mixed well. The jugs will have a few holes near the cap of the plastic jug to allow for water to exit. Attached to the cap will be a string that also attaches to a stick on the ground. A metal rod will be put through the handle of the plastic jug and will be reinforced by two metal forks in the ground that will hold the jugs off the ground. When the stick on the ground is pressed down with the foot, the water will pour out of the cap of the bottle onto the children’s hands. This will limit the amount of water used, will be very easy to maintain because all items are found in Tanzania, and will improve the children’s sanitation.
Both the bathrooms and hand washing stations will be built in three schools in Tanzania. A guide will be provided to the people with instructions of how the facilities work, how to maintain them, and what to do if something stops working correctly. This write-up will be given to the head masters of the schools so the documents are preserved and safe. One of the GSP affiliates, Mary, will be living in Tanzania and will be periodically checking in on the schools to see that the bathrooms are still functioning correctly and are being used appropriately. Any concerns will be addressed at this time.
This project will be officially completed in 2014. There have been a total of six fundraising events, each of which have earned about $100 towards the project. The total contributions at about $600 today. Other fundraising endeavors are currently underway and will continue through the fall until December. The most important part of this project is to spread awareness about the issues facing the children of Africa. Sanitation is a struggle for these people and through GSP we will support children in their educational journey.
Find us on Facebook: GSP - Toilets for Tanzania
Check out GSP's Website for more details!
Other sanitation informational sources:
Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Africa Information
United Nations Water Campaign
Events Hosted on GVSU Campus:
Water Wars - March 2013
Water Wars - October 2013