Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene September - October 2016 Vol. 11 No.4 | Page 32

Sanitation

In Ghana, a long overdue ‘place of
convenience’ for an entire community

By Offeibea Baddoo

F

or the past 25 years, the Ho SDA School in Ghana’s
Volta region has had no toilets on campus. The
situation forced students and teachers to find their own
ways to manage without these facilities, creating issues
with both sanitation and attendance at the school. But a
new urban sanitation project is underway in Ho, finally
bringing these long overdue ‘places of convenience’ to the

“I make sure that I do everything that makes me
comfortable before I come to school”, says 16-year-old
Abraham Aziaku, the boys’ prefect of the school.
A challenge for students and teachers alike
Abraham has learned to manage in the four years that he
has been in the school, and he is fortunate to have a toilet
in his home. Not all his school mates have this option. The
younger children especially can find it
difficult to control themselves.
“When the younger ones are pressed,
sometimes they resort to defecating
anywhere on the campus and even
sometimes mess themselves”, Abraham
says. Nancy Sappah, a primary one
teacher corroborates Abrahams
comment.
“The compound of the school was
like a toilet facility and the odour,
especially when the sun was high, made
teaching and learning difficult. In fact,
behind my classroom was the place of
convenience.”

The situation accounted for some lost
time in school for both students and
© UNICEF Ghana/2016, Abraham Aziaku (right), with some of his classmates from the Ho
teachers. Students would often seek
SDA school complex. Abraham is lucky to have a toilet at his home; many of the students do not
permission to use the public toilet,
have sanitation access at school or at home.
which was a 15 minute walk from the
school, and sometimes used that as an
excuse
not
to
return
to school.
school.
A place of convenience, lavatory, restroom, toilet facility,
Some teachers would stay at home when they had stomach
washroom, comfort station. These are all names used in
problems, or they would come to school and be forced to
Ghana to describe a toilet or bathroom. But when these
use toilets in the surrounding neighbourhood, which are
facilities are unavailable – especially for children in schools
usually dirty and unhygienic.
– it can be anything but comfortable or convenient.
The Ho SDA School complex in Ghana’s Volta region
A country-wide issue
was built 25 years ago, and it has never once had toilets.
Only 15 per cent of Ghana’s population has access to
Students have been forced to find their own ways to
improved sanitation – far from meeting Sustainable
manage without these facilities.
Development Goal 6 to ensure access to water and
sanitation for all. Ho is an urban town and the capital
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2016