Mariam in Mali’s story of saving lives with sanitation

Women power!

Mariam started to get other women from the village involved and now, once a week, a group of women run awareness-raising days that they, themselves have set up. The group helps people in the wider community to understand the problem caused by poor sanitation and how they can prevent it.

The women explain to community members the harm caused by open defecation. This has led to a reduction in this harmful practice. They also collect all the plastic waste, which they then sell and use the money to support people most in need in their community.

Since the women started these weekly awareness-raising days, as well as implementing what they’ve understood in their own homes, Mariam says Péné village has become ‘cleaner and cleaner’. She tells us, ‘The village is now an attractive place to live! Children and adults are healthier and stronger and no longer ill all the time.’

Issaï’s toilet: a place of privacy, dignity and safety

Issaï lives in another village in the same region which was also struggling with a hygiene problem. A shortage of toilets meant that many people had to resort to open defecation in the sparse bush. This forced young and old alike to walk far from the village to find enough cover to relieve themselves with any privacy.

Issaï says, ‘I am too old. To relieve myself, I cannot go very far into the bush and we are in a period of rain. There is water everywhere. Often the needs can come late at night when it's not safe for old people like me to go out.’ Added to the indignity of using the toilet in the open, not having a safe place to go carries a very real risk of harm for many people like Issaï.

As part of a programme to help the community improve sanitation and hygiene, Tearfund’s local partner built and restored latrines for many vulnerable households – including Issaï’s.

Poor sanitation keeps people in poverty and girls at risk of SGBV*

Apart from the dangerous health problems having to go in the open causes for communities, the safety of girls, especially, is placed at risk. Not having a toilet in their home leaves girls vulnerable to attack. At school, if there are no facilities, life gets particularly difficult when girls have their period. As a result, many girls miss school. Some get so frustrated that they give up altogether. This lack of education keeps girls trapped in a cycle of poverty. Instead of the things that should be, it’s their futures that are going down the toilet.

But, thanks to the resulting increased productivity and lower health care costs, giving people access to toilets is a hugely cost-effective way to improve people’s lives.

Toilet Twinning making life safer, more dignified and productive

Toilet Twinning is one way Tearfund raises money to bring dignity, productivity and protection from diseases to communities around the world through supporting sanitation and hygiene work (WASH**). Since 2010, more than 190,000 toilets have been twinned, giving about 840,000 people in 50 countries access to safe sanitation. And we estimate that around 1 million people receive hygiene education each year thanks to the programmes that Toilet Twinning helps fund. It's an excellent so-loo-tion!

 

*What is SGBV?

Sexual and gender-based violence refers to a wide range of acts that violate people’s human rights, including the sexual abuse of children, sexual assault and harassment, domestic violence, rape and forced marriages. It includes any abusive act, attempted act or threat of a sexual, physical, emotional or economic nature directed at a person because of their gender identity using coercion, power/authority or force without consent/against their will having or likely to have harmful consequences.

**What is WASH?

WASH is the acronym commonly used to talk about provision of clean, safe water – both for drinking and for hygiene purposes – and sanitation provision (like building toilets etc) to keep people safe from waterborne diseases that can be deadly, particularly to young children.