Those dear readers who have been fortunate to read Chic Sale’s hilarious little boock ‘The Specialist’ about an early 20th Century outhouse builder may imagine the mood that currently pervades Kirenga Primary School.
Overlooking (underlooking?) Mt Kilimanjaro is one of the most spectacular school dunnies (pit toilets) ever constructed in Tanzania.
Chick Sale’s specialist would have been very impressed that this is a 17 holer with a long urinal. Not a bad size for a village school. A little too big for the 240 students there now but necessary for the more than 1000 that will be there when all the classrooms are complete. The size was set by the education authorities with the future in mind.
Invariably the design of village school pit toilets leaves much to be desired. Apart from the rough shod and incomplete construction they are rarely hygienic and the fragrance is somewhat less than desirable.
This project attempts to correct these problems and provide a template for construction at other schools. While introducing new design criteria the concept has been to keep costs down to those affordable by villagers and to provide methods of construction that are easily understood.
The most innovative aspect of the design is the Thin Shell Concrete (TSC) hat roofs with a hypar geometric shape. These have not been constructed in Tanzania before and it is hoped the method will replace galvanized iron which lasts no more thaqn 10 years in this climate. It is hot and expensive as it is imported. The basic materials of the TSC roofs, cement, paint, cloth,wire and wood are all available and manufactured in Tanzania.
Work starts on the hypar roof by constructing a wooden frame on the ground. Over this is stretched any cheap cloth tacked down with a staple gun. This is followed by a layer of chicken wire. The structure is then painted with a mix of cement, acrylic paint and a little sand. After two coats of this the roof is ready to be lifted into place. Once in place thicker layers of the cement/sand/acrylic are poured and brushed over the roof to form a layer about one centimeter thick. That’s all there is to it.
This roof will be in two sections or hats. Each hat has a skylight made from translucent corrugated plastic. Very inexpensive and easy to install.
The full size of the roof is 5×10 meters. That is a lot of space for water catchment and availability of water is a major problemn in Kirenga where presently we are bringing water by donkey from over five kilometers away. This buliding will feature guttering made from the same local bricks as the building and harvested rainwater will be led into a large water tank incorporated into the building also made of the same bricks.
The existing toilet which is largely being rebuilt had a four inch pipe to serve as a vent but this was very far from adequate. The reconstructed toilet has a 34 centimeter square (inside) flue either side of the building. This will set up a draft through the pit to reduce odor and encourage rapid drying of the waste.
Two cubicles have been separated for the teachers. For visiting donors and volunteers there is even a sitting toilet at one end of the building. Chick Sale’s Specialist was very proud of his innovation of square holes with sharp edges in the sitting toilet. This, he discovered, very much reduced the time that employees relaxed in the toilet and industrial productivity increased. The dunny at Kirenga however is designed for comfort and visitors are welcome at any time.
The bricks for the building have been made and supplied by the Kirenga villagers who have also helped with a lot of the labor. Funding for the rest of the work has come from the Nuba Water Project and The Earth Assistance Foundation.
Brad is Executive Director of the Adopt a School Program in Tanzania - and currently administers the program from Arusha.