Ebukoola Primary School, Kenya

Ebukoola's old, broken toilets... and some of the new ones​
Ebukoola Primary school is a large primary school with 890 pupils, founded by the Anglican Church of Kenya and located in a poor rural area in Kisumu, Kenya.

The problem

Ebukoola had a serious lack of toilet facilities. Some had collapsed and were completely unusable; others were poorly constructed; for example, doors opened inwards, which meant any dirt on the floor could easily be spread over a larger area.

In total, there were just 15 toilets for 570 girls and six for 320 boys. Boys frequently urinated or defecated outside the latrines as a result. Pupils suffered high levels of water-related illnesses, such as diarrhoea, and absenteeism rates were high.

How was this addressed?
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Phase One of this project occurred while Faith in Water was part of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). In 2013 we linked up with the Kenya Organisation for Environmental Education (KOEE) to build several two-door and four-door sanitary blocks to increase the number of toilets to 25 for girls and 15 for boys.

In Phase Two, again working with KOEE, Faith in Water organised a hand washing campaign in July 2015 to reinforce the messages around hygiene and cleanliness delivered during the construction of the new sanitary facilities.

The teachers attended a WASH workshop and this was followed by a public hand washing awareness day at the school. This was attended by representatives of the Anglican Church of Kenya, local government, chiefs and dignitaries. Two new wash points, with soap, were established next to the toilets and the pupils were given lessons in proper hand washing – as were the teachers, local dignitaries and the chaplain.

Impact on performance

The school's performance in the Kenya Certificate for Primary Education has gone up, from a mean score of 250.68 in 2010 to 262.81 in 2014.

Key benefits

  • 80% FEWER cases of water borne diseases among pupils
  • 80% LOWER absenteeism rates due to illness as a result
  • No cases of boys urinating/defecating outside the latrines
  • Shorter queues for toilets means more time for class
  • Improved hand washing regime with soap among pupils after using the latrines and before and after eating
  • Increased pupil awareness about WASH with some pupils making tippy-tap hand washing structures for their homes
  • Improved WASH knowledge among teachers as all are involved in teaching it, both in class and out of class
  • Improved church involvement in pastoral teachings on WASH as the school chaplain and the priest teach the pupils weekly
  • Improved school-church-community collaboration with the facilities being used as learning centres

Other benefits

  • The facilities are attractive and well maintained
  • Reduced smell due to improved maintenance of the facilities
  • General improvements in pupil cleanliness and personal grooming
  • Improved community awareness on WASH