Report - Latrine

Once the toilet pit is full, it is necessary to build another one. A school where, sometimes, more than 300 students attend the classes day by day, year by year, it is a must to have always a safe and comfortable place where they can do their own necessities. When human waste (feces) is not managed properly, it pollutes water, food, and soil with germs, and leads to diarrhea and other serious health problems. Using toilets prevents germs from getting into the environment, and so protects the health of the school as well as the whole community.

It was in Thundwe school that we had the opportunity to learn how to build a latrine with local resources. The community was involved in every step of the process, from the beginning to the end. They were committed to improve the sanitation of the school, so they worked together. Some parents were responsible for molding bricks, others took part of digging the pit and others went to the Mtangatanga forest to collect some logs.

The location of the new latrine was close to the old ones that are in the opposite site and far from the borehole. It is important to bear in mind that every toilet should be at least 20 meters far from any kind of water sources due to the fact that it can pollute and contaminate with harmful germs.

Two days were enough to dig a pit of 12 meters deep and 2 meters across. The head of the project explained us that it will take about 10 years for children to fill the pit.

After digging, it was needed to create a platform which could support and prevent the walls of the pit from falling in. The platform can be made of concrete, ring beam, logs, bricks, stones. Ideally, we should design our latrine with a well-made concrete platform or a ring beam since it is easier to keep the toilet clean. However those kind of platforms requires an extra investment and not all the communities can afford it. One bag of cement is enough to make 2 platforms and 2 ring beams but it costs 4800 kw, here in Malawi. Additionally, it is needed to buy reinforcing wires and boards to form the mold.

An alternative way, it is as we did. Simple and without using money. We line the top of the pit with logs, and letting a small hole in the middle, we covered the logs with mud. The logs must come from permanent trees otherwise it will rot quickly.

We got a short list of trees that the wood can be used in the platform. The names are in Chitumbuka, but we believe that it is worth to share with you, who knows if you end up in the north of Malawi! So, here it comes:       

Muwanga Kaloma Chifitye Munthuluka Mukalakate Mumphangala Mujoji

The final step of the construction was to raise a shelter to put over the pit. The shelter can be made from concrete or local materials like bamboo, mud, bricks and logs. In our case, the community decided to use bricks connected with each other with a mixture of sand, clay and water. Three wheelbarrows of clay and five of sand are the right proportions to bound the bricks.

This type of toilets are specially used in crowded places like schools. It doesn’t required any efforts to maintain it and to fill the whole pit takes years. There are some upgrades that can make the pit toilets much more pleasant to use, for instance, adding a vent pipe to reduce smells and flies.

It is true that when the pit toilets are full, the toilet can no longer be used. However, by removing the structure, the community can reuse the bricks and at the same time can take advantage of the waste, by planting a tree on the site.

We can also turn the waste in the pit toilet into useful compost but it takes a daily maintenance of adding ashes or dry leaves after every use.