Lukhuna School, Kenya
In conjunction with the charity Practical Action, Trust 2000 donated £3,000 to Lukhuna School in 2006 to help with the installation of a bio-latrine.
Lukhuna School is situated in Kitale in the western, mountainous region of Kenya not far from the Ugandan border. There are 980 pupils, who are drawn from high-density, poor neighbourhoods, with a teacher/student ratio of 1:81. The school had a number of problems including health and sanitation which Practical Action, a UK based charity, had been working on with the Municipal Council of Kitale.
In the Spring of 2006, Trust 2000 agreed to provide a grant of £3,000 to help with the installation of a bio-latrine and a further £1,000 was provided by the Parent Teacher Association. Prior to this 18 pit latrines had been dug around the school compound and the school was under threat of closure by the Public Health Department.
The technology chosen for the latrine ensured sustainable use of the available space with bi-products of gas, for lighting and cooking, and organic manure for use on the school farm. Practical Action prepared the design and contract documents and arranged for the work to be undertaken by a local contractor. This took about three months during which local artisans were trained in the construction and maintenance of bio-latrines. The latrine was handed over to the school on 31st October 2006.
Practical Action, the Kitale project team and the Lukhuna School community have all expressed their thanks to Trust 2000 for supporting the project and a fourteen year old pupil of the school wrote an appreciation from which the following comments have been extracted:
“It has been a nightmare at Lukhuna where an ever-increasing population has over stripped the available sanitary facilities. The available dilapidated facilities made it even worse for girls with no privacy due to broken doors.”
and
“One great hygiene problem has been solved and we have organised ourselves to keep the toilets clean by washing them daily with water from nearby springs.”
