News | 2024-07-15
Modern toilets for Mrs Ndo, thanks to WACA
In her fifties, Madame N'do ABOKI is a widow with three children. She lives in Zébé, a neighborhood in the city of Aného. For years, even before her husband passed away, she had hoped to have modern toilets in her home. However, the lack of means to buy the necessary materials, which are expensive, prevented her project from coming to fruition until the day WACA launched the sub-project for solid and liquid waste management.
One of the activities of this project was to support households in constructing Ecosan latrines. During the public awareness campaign on April 18, 2023, on the town square, Madame N'do was among the first to arrive, impatiently waiting for the sanitation officer carrying this important message for her.
"The toilets we recommend you build with WACA's support, called Ecosan, have several advantages. They do not emit odors." At this announcement, the naturally shy Mme N'do internally vowed to do everything possible to have one built in her home.
The sanitation officer listed other advantages, including using urine and feces in agriculture as natural fertilizer in market gardening after six months of use. Additionally, he specified that out of a total cost of 570,000 Fcfa, beneficiaries would only pay 55,000 Fcfa. With a smile on her face, Mme N'do began calculating and thinking about how to gather the necessary funds to achieve this long-awaited happiness.
The next day, she gathered the money and, to be the first to register, took a zémidja, a local means of transport, instead of walking for half an hour. After registering, she returned home with her three children to identify the spot where the Ecosan toilets would be built.
Once the registrations were complete, the work began. In a few weeks, Madame N'do's dream became a reality. Eager to start using the new toilets, she awaited the appointed day like "a fiancée waiting for her groom." At the agreed time, the sanitation officer's stool was already cleaned and placed under the mango tree in the yard. Ten minutes later, the officer arrived with a handwashing device. To Mme N'do's question, "Is this for me too?", the officer answered affirmatively.
He provided some advice: avoid using water, always sprinkle ash, apply used oil on the plates to prevent rust, and inform the sanitation officers when it is full so they can remove it and sell it to gardeners.
"I will follow your advice," said Madame N'do, who thanked the WACA project and its partners, thanks to whom she now has a modern toilet in her home.