The purpose of World Toilet Day is to serve as a reminder that approximately 4.5 billion people worldwide don’t have access to a toilet and that safe sanitation remains a luxury many cannot afford.

In South Africa, more than 4,000 South African schools still use pit toilets. President Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni have vowed to eradicate pit latrine toilets over the next two years.

The President said back in August that not enough is being done by Government to ensure schools have decent plumbing, and noted that the “utterly tragic and devastating deaths of children so young and so innocent remind us of the human consequences of service delivery delayed.”

It was announced in the Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement that R800m was set aside for 2018 and 2019, specifically as an adjustment budged for school infrastructure, to “restore dignity to tens of thousands of children.”

The president called on global leaders to help supply adequate sanitation and hygiene. In light of this, Helene Bramwell created the Donate-a-Loo Schools Project, which will kick off with the installation of six environmentally-friendly toilets at Paradise Bend Primary School in Diepsloot, Johannesburg.

The Acting Deputy Principal Ms M. Maleka and her learners are ecstatic about the programme as students will no longer be risking their lives using the dangerous pit toilets.

Bramwell highlighted the dangers:

“A pit toilet is a large hole in the ground covered with a platform, and many are shoddily built. In March this year, 5-year-old Lumka Mketwa fell into one of those big holes at an Eastern Cape school and drowned; and four years ago, another 5-year-old, Michael Komape, died a similar horrific death in Limpopo.”

Bramwell hopes that the initiative will gain momentum and that some of Gauteng’s most needy schools will benefit from this project. An ‘enviro’ loo costs approximately R15,000 per unit and donations can be made to Donate-a-Loo. Reach out to Bramwell at donatealoo@mweb.co.za, or 011 646 6166.

She thanked everyone who brought the initiative this far, and explained that the ‘enviro’ loo is a “long-term sustainable solution as it has a lifespan of more than 50 years and it’s a once-off expense as it conserves water resources, [and] requires no expensive reticulation or sewage treatment.” She added:

“[Paradise Bend Primary School in Diepsloot] is our first site and we look forward to rolling out this initiative to earmarked schools in the Gauteng area as we receive funding.”

Eskel Jawitz, who donated one of the ‘enviro’ loos, added that children are the future leaders of the country and “we cannot expect them to grow up without access to working toilets.”

“We need to restore their dignity and improve their lives; the way we treat people today will determine the tomorrow of our country. Government often says they can’t do it alone, so what the Donate-a-Loo Schools Project is doing truly shows the potential of what one person can achieve.”

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