Nearly six months have passed since H&M Conscious Foundation announced their partnership with WaterAid, in front of thousands at the Global Citizen Festival in New York. The three year collaboration will give 250,000 of the world’s poorest school students access to clean, safe water and toilets.
Since then, WaterAid has been working closely with communities, local partners, water suppliers and government to help bring access to safe water and toilets to thousands of schools. Students at Bobicho school in Hossaena, southern Ethiopia, are already starting to see work coming to fruition, as two new toilet blocks are being constructed.
Bobicho, the most popular school in town, opened in 1950 in an unplanned and unacknowledged settlement in one of the outermost suburbs of Hossaena. Over the years it has seen the comings and goings of many students, but the one thing they have all had in common is a lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
Almost 3000 students had to go through each day sharing just two toilet blocks, poorly constructed from corrugated iron – some with no doors at all. Access to clean water is an issue for the town in general and even more so at school, where the lack of access has wider consequences on gender equality, health and development.
Across Ethiopia, nearly half of the population don’t have access to clean, safe water and more than 70 million don’t have access to adequate sanitation facilities. Many students have no choice but to collect dirty water from unsafe sources and, as a result, water and sanitation-related diseases are rife, with many children dying before the age of five.
The current situation could be far worse at Bobicho if it wasn’t for the sanitation and hygiene club’s 56 volunteers who help keep the school clean. They used to carry water from their houses if there was none in school. However, the club’s efforts could only go so far when the school lacked adequate facilities.
The old girls’ toilets lacked privacy, so they didn’t use them when needed. “If you don’t provide girls with a conducive environment in which they can manage their periods, they choose not to come to school on those days – three, four, five days every month. How can they be competitive with the boys?” said Demekech Habte, the girl’s club head.
The blocks are being constructed with hand washing facilities for girls and students with disabilities. The girls’ toilets are being built far from the boys’, to protect their privacy. They will provide girls at Bobicho with safe, private facilities creating an environment where they can complete their education without dropping out of school when they have their period.
Seven year old Yemisrach is just one of the many girls who will benefit from the new facilities. Having just started her school life at Bobicho, she is lucky compared to past students who attended school with no water and barely any access to sanitation and hygiene facilities for over six decades.
“Even at our home, we don’t get much water,” said Yemisrach talking about the current situation in her town. My friends, who have plastic bottles, bring water to school, so if I get thirsty, I ask for some and drink. I had my own bottle too, and when I brought water, I shared it with those that didn’t have any.”
“I wish there was more water in school. When I leave the toilet I turn the tap on, but it doesn’t have water. If we don’t wash, our hands would smell bad and that creates parasites and they create diseases.”
The shortage of clean, safe drinking water and adequate toilet facilities at Bobicho and many other schools in Ethiopia, not only affects students’ health and development, but also their ability to learn. Vice director of the school, Melese Abaka, said, “The children’s concentration and participation slackened on days when there was no water in the school, and that was every other day.”
With 2968 pupils and 71 teachers at Bobicho they now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to support from the H&M Conscious Foundation, these basics will create new opportunities for pupils. When the project is finished at the end of this academic year, there will be a consistent supply of clean, safe water for the pupils to drink and keep themselves and their school clean.
“Girls will not need to stay back home or leave school when they experience their period while in class,” said Demekech. She thinks the new supply of water for washing will make a big difference. “I think that is where the new project will help us the most,”
It will transform life at Bobicho Elementary and Junior School for good. “Water is life.” added Demekech, “If we get water in the school, it is going to improve the learning and teaching process very much – both for the teachers and students. Especially for girls, who are going to have confidence and be able to compete with the boys academically.”
At a global level, H&M Conscious Foundation aims to support and influence the UN Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that one of the targets includes access to safe water and sanitation for all schools. WaterAid is currently working closely with the ministry of education and key decision makers in Ethiopia to advocate for these basic human rights to be integrated into national education policies.
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