Decent sanitation facilities in schools can reduce dropout rates, especially among girls, and hygiene promotion not only benefits children but empowers them to be agents of change in their families and communities. Hygiene is important for the girl's ability to learn and thrive. In Eastern and Southern Africa, on average, less than half of schools have adequate water supply and sanitation facilities. In many communities, women and girls are burdened with the responsibility of collecting water, a household chore that can take up large parts of their day. Poor water sanitation can make girl's especially vulnerable - UNICEF. 

 

In general, every child is entitled to having a clean and hygienic environment, and when building an all-girls school the element of this was very important to us. A focus that was not only for the sake of health issues but also for the sake of giving them a place where they can feel at ease and secure. Prosperity has its own water well, which provides clean drinking water. Not only does it provide the school with sufficient and clean water but the village as well. Proper toilets were built for the girls, promoting healthy behaviors such as handwashing with soap.  

 

«Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are crucial for poverty reduction, crucial for sustainable development, and crucial for achieving any and every one of the Millennium Development Goals.» 

- Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General. 

 

Wanting to promote hygiene and to protect the girls from problems which can arise from the lack of a proper restroom, as well as safe drinking water the organization with its partners built a restroom with individual stalls and sinks equipped with clean water, for the girls to be able to both have a safe space to relieve themselves as well as access to safe water. The volunteers who traveled educated the girls and staff on hygienic measures, such as washing their hands after the use of the bathroom, and keeping the areas used clean and sanitary. 

 

The Foundation would like to give a heartfelt and special thanks to Erna & Knut Eng Childrens' Foundation, who contributed greatly to this project and many others before.