Toilets for Kibera Slum Dwellers

Kibera slum is the largest slum in Africa. With close to 1 million inhabitants, it is also one of the largest in the world. And in most of Kibera, there are no toilets.

Can you imagine…
So many people living together and many having no toilets.
Having to stand in line for 30 minutes to go to a toilet and if you did not have money to pay you had no choice.
Having to go to the toilet in a plastic bag.

These are the true stories that you hear from Kibera slums.

We have started a project to build toilets in the slums of Nairobi. With our sponsorship the first unit consisting of ten toilets is already under construction. Our engineer, Nanubai Vitlani volunteered to design toilet units that suit the environment and supervise the construction work. We plan to complete the first unit within a month and hand them over to the community.

On January 21st accompanied by Mr. Dawda, the main organizer of the event, the District commissioner and the community leaders, we broke ground for the project. We have plans for 13 units of toilets consisting of 130 toilets for 13 communities in Kibera and would plan to finish them as soon as possible.

There are many issues to deal with: locations, land ownership, government permits and community co-operation. Mr. Babu and Tina, over many days, had meetings with relevant officers and community leaders and prepared the documents. Mr. Dawda had many meetings with relevant officers. Currently Mr. Babu and Tina are working with the community and contractors to build the first unit that consisting of 10 toilets.

Mr. Dawda, in his first visit to Kibera slums was shocked to see the conditions of how people were living without basic facilities. When he returned from the trip to Kibera, he came to see me at the temple in Nairobi and told me of the appalling conditions that people were living under. We discussed the urgency of need for the toilets. Mr. Dawda invited me to visit the District commissioner and meet the community leaders. After our meeting, they agreed to give us all the support we needed to accomplish the task.

One unit, consisting of 10 toilets including septic and water tank will cost $5,000. This cost is for the materials and labor. The additional costs for supervisor, transportation, permits and so on, will be handled by Mr. Dawda.

May you be well and happy.