Last year we donated $10,000 to one of our partner organisations, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) to build brand new toilets that will provide proper sanitation to thousands of people in Mathare, one of Nairobi’s oldest informal settlements. We just got some updates on how the project is going, so we wanted to share with you! After all, none of this would be possible without your support.

A bit of context

Before we talk about all of SHOFCO’s incredible work, let’s rewind to what Mathare looked like a year ago. If you’re unfamiliar with Mathare, it’s a valley in Nairobi that’s home to about 400,000 people. It’s one of the oldest and most densely populated informal settlements in the Kenyan capital. Describing life in Mathare is complex – of course, there's a lot of community and life, but there is also a lot of poverty. Most homes are made from just mud and corrugated metal. The Mathare river carries tonnes of garbage and industrial waste through the settlement. Only a century ago, this river was the main source of drinking water for the community.

Before SHOFCO’s intervention, clean water was difficult (if not impossible) to come by. Services like sanitation and water were expensive and the majority of people in Mathare live on less than $1 a day. Using a toilet just once daily could cost 5-7% of a person’s income. To avoid this exorbitant cost, residents would use the bathroom outside, which is unpleasant, unhygienic and unsafe (particularly for women and girls).

The project’s complete!

As of September 2020, the toilets are completed! The new toilets in Mathare don’t look exactly like what you might have in your home. Technically, these toilets are pour-flush latrines fitted with lids and piping that connect to a septic tank. After use, residents pour water into these latrines in order to flush waste into the tank – a safe and hygienic means of waste removal.

SHOFCO installed these latrines in lieu of more traditional toilets because it was impossible to access a sewer line. Mathare is a very densely populated area, with homes built around and on top of pre-existing sewer lines. Connecting toilets to these lines would have meant displacing members of the Mathare community, which was obviously not an option for SHOFCO.

While septic tanks are an amazing way to contain waste and keep it out of waterways, SHOFCO is still looking into ways to sustainably remove the waste completely from communities. They are considering collaborating with one of our other partners, Sanergy, to recycle the waste into fertiliser or animal feed. Pretty cool, right?

And the good goes on

While we specifically funded these shiny new toilets, SHOFCO has been doing other incredible work in Mathare. By expanding their water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming into Mathare, they’ve made sure that thousands more people have access to clean water. Last year, SHOFCO operated 24 water kiosks in Kibera and 5 in Mathare with 9,510 visits throughout the year. This service has provided residents with clean water at a cost that is 60% lower compared to private water vendors. They also installed solar lighting panels above 10 of the water kiosks to guide people safely at night. It’s all super innovative work and incredibly important in these times.

We thought we’d end the update by sharing a bit of SHOFCO’s message about the project.

“As we deepen our WASH programming in new areas [like Mathare], we will continue to experience learning opportunities in each diverse slum that will ultimately improve the effectiveness of our water and sanitation projects. We are so grateful for the support and partnership of the Who Give A Crap community in bringing improved sanitation to the residents of the Mathare slum, and look forward to sharing continued updates on this impact.”

We are so excited to share this news with you and hope you think it’s as cool as we do. You are a part of a community that helps people all around the world! We truly can’t think of anything cooler than that.