The village of Haruma/Madoya in the Mathare Valley slum of Nairobi, Kenya is one of the areas we are working in. Haruma/Madoya has about 80,000 people, and being at the bottom of the valley, is the area where the poorest of the poor live. There are no amenities and there were no toilets. It is very depressing for outsiders not used to openly running sewers to visit the area.
One of our US church partners from Colorado raised funds to construct a community toilet in partnership with a local self-help group. The group had desired toilets and had come up with drawings. This was their project. They began digging. The church came along-side and eventually the building was completed. The bottom floor is divided between men’s and women’s sides. Each side has toilets as well as a shower. Water from the city is available at the toilet for a small fee. The self-help group runs the project as a community development project. The floor above the toilets and showers is a community meeting room which has been used for, among other things, a center for Bible study.
When we were in Kenya we got to pitch in with the self-help group and plant 21 tree seedlings on the small plot. Goats roam freely, so I hope the trees are protected. It would be wonderful, some years from now, to see the area with a dozen trees.
