Africa-Press – South-Africa. Corporate bigwig and former Post Office CEO Mark Barnes put out a challenge to stop the use of pit toilets in schools earlier this year and, three months later, a brave initiative to eradicate the ancient ablution method has materialised.
On 27 March, the vocal Barnes posted on Twitter that pit toilets had no place in South Africa and pledged R100 000 of his own money.
His post soon caught the attention of the non-profit Breadline Africa, an organisation that provides educational infrastructure for poverty relief in the country.
Flushing toilets were handed over to Umsunduze Primary School in Ndwedwe, KwaZulu-Natal, on Thursday in an official ceremony.
The school has its first flushing toilets since it was built in 1913, a full 110 years later.
Through the efforts of Breadline Africa, the KZN Education Development Trust and dedicated stakeholders rallied by Barnes, Umsunduze Primary School now boasts 18 modern low-flush toilets that are connected to a septic tank.
The school previously had 10 pit toilets in appalling condition.
Breadline Africa and its partners now hope to raise R156 million, with a specific focus on 240 schools in the most affected regions of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
They aim to replace 4 000 unsafe pit toilets, benefiting about 120 000 children. If achieved, the initiative would address 26% of the around 908 schools that still have pit toilets in South Africa.
Speaking to News24, Barnes said going to the toilet shouldn’t be a daunting experience for anyone, particularly young children.
“I feel we are not just building toilets, but also the prospect of dignity. It allows you to move away from anxiety and not think about the toilet experience. It is something we should all be allowed to take for granted.”
He said if you personalise problems in South Africa, you achieve the “ultimate measure of equality”.
“The dignity of going about your business is so vastly disparate among the people of South Africa. If we can start changing that, maybe we can change the mood, maybe we can change the attitude, and kids will focus on what they are learning instead of being too scared to go to the toilet.”
‘We are close to trouble’
Barnes commended those involved in funding the project, saying it took less than three months from his initial Twitter post to the official opening on Thursday.
“I met Breadline Africa less than three months ago. Less than three months later we have toilets that can flush, has a five-year maintenance programme and we are educating the kids about toilets.
“For me, it is a tiny thing that can get a huge momentum to get a groundswell of vested interest which people will grow up with. When you start growing up with success, you start forgetting about failure.”
He believes progress should come from the bottom rungs.
He said:
“I go to informal settlements, and when you get past the litter at the entrance, people have pride, and kids are laughing and playing.
“Let’s go to them and lift them up instead of looking down at them from high up in a government structure.”
He said the country was close to full-on collapse.
“We are close to trouble. We are close to a total collapse. It won’t be cured by a policy and a promise, it will be cured by action, by people actually doing things.”
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