The sound of drums filled Dornorgbor School as they celebrated the completion of their new toilet block, built as part of our transformative WASH Programme.
Dominic, The District Director of Education, attended Dornorgbor School in April to open the new toilet block, which will help improve the health and hygiene standards for over 700 children.
The new block comprises 11 gendered and lockable latrines (five cubicles for boys and six for girls). In addition, four handwashing stations with clean, piped water have been installed.
The larger washroom enables toilet access for children with disabilities and a private area for menstrual health management.
The impact
The WASH Programme seeks to ensure equal opportunity for girls and boys to reach their full potential at school through the provision of better sanitation facilities and access to clean water, improving hygiene and students’ wellbeing.
Dan Mew, African Adventures’ Director, attended the opening ceremony and spoke to Dominic, The District Director of Education, to find out what impact the new sanitation facilities will have on the students.
“We are blessed because our female students normally go through challenges during their period of menstruation. When it happens, they need to go home, change and then come back to school, which means they are missing their lessons or some won’t come to school at all. Now having a washroom in the toilet block will change this.” Commented Dominic, The District Director of Education (pictured right).
What’s next
The next phase at Dornorgbor School is to roll out educational workshops, which will improve students’ knowledge and understanding of good hygiene and menstrual health management. This will help girls feel confident in managing their menstruation so that they can attend school.
Each girl will receive a trashy bag with underwear, hand sanitiser and a three months supply of sanitary pads, with the goal of continuing to provide pads each month through African Adventures Foundation.
Before the WASH Programme started at Dornorgbor, only 2% of girls felt confident in managing menstruation. Once the programme is complete, we will be surveying the girls again to see what impact it has had on their confidence and school attendance.
Plans are now also underway for the WASH Programme to be rolled out to another of our partner schools, Ashata, which educates around 630 students with only five latrine toilets, two for boys, two for girls and one for the teachers. The toilet block has no roof or hygiene facilities, making it unusable. Currently, only 8% of girls who attend Ashata feel comfortable attending school during menstruation and 100% of girls don’t feel comfortable asking for help and advice about menstruation from their teacher.
Construction of the new toilet block at Ashata is set to begin shortly, and we can’t wait to update you on the progress. To donate to the WASH programme, please click here.
