Pilot project Flush Shower and Go Matsangoni/Kilifi Tradecentre
Aproximately 2 years ago I was approached by crowdfunding GetItDone, founded by Hannah Verboom, who herself was born in Kenya. Via Facebook they had seen what I was doing in Kenya and they were very impressed and asked me to submit a project, unfortunately not my existing project at that time but a new project.
This is how the project ‘toilet in the jungle’ was developed and came to live. This project has gone through some developments before it could be realized because of the fact, that the original inhabitants didn’t want to work Pamoja (together in Swahili). We as a foundation had to decide to execute the project in another area. I must say, it has become a great success and we have put our name on the map. We work together with the government and we got permission to realize the pilot project ‘Flush Shower and Go’ on one condition, it must be a project for the people and not a private project. The people themselves have to be able to use it. To make this project successful we have chosen to commercialize the project. It is a public building for showering, toileting and a place where you can wash your hands. It is built for everyone in the ‘Villagestreet’ of Matsangoni. One family or 1 person will clean and maintain the building, hygienic and technical wise.
The project coordinator in Kenya and also the chairman of the foundation in Kenya has the total supervision that everything will go as it should be and that the maintenance is correctly done. He also receives a percentage of the income so that he can pay his expenses for travelling, lodging and food to Matsangoni. The board of the foundation in Kenya will check the building on a regular basis because they live in the vicinity. In the end the minister of health will and has to approve the project.
Normally as a foundation, company or whatever organization wants to execute a project like this, you have to buy the land yourself to do this project. The counselor of Matsangoni/Kilifi has donated the land to the Foundation Pamoja Kenya. This meant we could start immediately. In the end it took almost 2 months to get it done but the result is astonishing thanks to Philip Kahindi, the chairman of the foundation who is a very talented constructor with very good ideas. We have started on February 12th 2014 so it has been a while.
We had the opportunity to recycle a couple of items of the old public toilets like doors, windows, septic tank and a part of the roof. Fantastic, this was exactly what I meant to be done and achieve. The people understand what you are doing and how you can make things happen. The tempo is completely different than in Holland. The employees where impatiently waiting to start and couldn’t wait. An old cracked small house was demolished and smashed down the ground in no time and the rebuild of the new building could start. The lady in the small old house, who had her business articles stored there, had been given a new place for her storage.
Everybody in Matsangoni Tradecentre did good business. The local grocery, the shop for cement, paint and things like that, the hardware store and on and on. Very nice to see. And the people where sorry that I left! Yes I can imagine, I was making good business for them. We have been working with a very good mason/constructor who was very enthusiastic. Everybody worked very hard in the heat. Originally there was a neglected public toilet, put there by the local government. It smelled not nice and it wasn’t been used anymore. The septic tank was installed under the building instead of behind the building. This meant, you breathe the smell in again. Fortunately we could use this septic tank for the new building. And we have put the water tank on top of the old building.
And Philips wish a little garden!
