Joshua* is in grade 5 at an Adventist school in Solomon Islands. Every day Joshua loves to come to school. It’s a place where he can see his friends, play, and learn from his favourite teachers. He even dreams of becoming a teacher one day.
“I want to become a teacher,” Joshua said.
But until recently, Joshua’s school was also an unsafe place to go to the toilet.
“Over the past years, the school had no proper toilet facility,” said Madam Ohokeni, the Deputy Principal at Joshua’s school. “The school children used the bush and water stream to defecate and urinate. The school environment was not considered safe and healthy because of this.”
The school had a toilet block, but it was in disrepair. With no tiles on the floor and no cistern to flush, many students chose to relieve themselves in the bush rather than carrying water to flush and then dealing with overflow and hygiene issues. But open defecation comes with its own sanitation, safety, and privacy concerns.
“We used to get water from the river or just go in the bush,” said Joshua.
ADRA worked with Joshua’s school to improve the sanitation.
ADRA extended the boys’ ablution block, adding an additional toilet block and shower room. Additionally, ADRA added tiling to the boys’ and girls’ toilet blocks and installed cistern tanks for all the toilets. These facilities will benefit the 262 students enrolled at the school, as well as nine teachers.
“The project came with toilets and made our surroundings clean every day. If ADRA is not here the school will not be clean,” said Joshua. “Now there’s a flush toilet so that we don’t have to carry water from a far distance or go in the bush. Thank you.”
Naomi* is also a student at the school.
“This project helps me to save time,” Naomi said. “If ADRA was not here we would be carrying buckets of water to flush the toilet.”
The improvements to the toilet blocks have changed the children’s experience at school.
“The children no longer use the bush,” says Madam Ohokeni. “This improvement saves time and provides safety and privacy for the school children.”
ADRA has a holistic approach to sanitation and hygiene. It is not enough to provide a sanitary toilet block if it is not paired with instructions on proper hand washing and personal hygiene.
“ADRA installed water taps with soap, and the students follow the hand-washing rules that ADRA showed them during the training,” says Madam Ohokeni. “Students now know how to look after their sanitation and how to keep themselves clean. The children are hand washing with soap properly.”
Naomi is hopeful that, with her education, she can go on to become a nurse.
“In the future I want to become a nurse to help the people in my community.”
The students like Joshua and Naomi are so grateful for the improved hygiene and sanitation they have received from ADRA. But Joshua shared that there are still barriers to education.
“There are times students are hungry and come to school without food, and they aren’t given money to buy food from the cafeteria,” Joshua said. “We need a farm garden to help students who are hungry, and it’s easier to get food from the school garden.”
ADRA is working with Adventist Schools across Solomon Islands to implement school gardens. These gardens not only give hands-on experience to agricultural students, but they help feed students who would otherwise be learning on an empty stomach. ADRA is working on implementing the garden at Joshua and Naomi’s school in the next year.
This Christmas, you can provide schools with toilets and showers, along with hygiene education to help children learn handwashing and hygiene habits that last a lifetime. Give a safe, clean toilet today at adra.org.au/Christmas
* Names changed for child protection purposes