Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH)

Question 1

What does the acronym WASH stand for?

Answer 1

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

Question 2

Which organisation does Tearfund own that deals exclusively with WASH?

Answer 2

Toilet Twinning.

Question 3

What is Toilet Twinnings’ primary role?

Answer 3

To raise funds for Tearfund’s WASH work.

Question 4

How much does it cost a supporter to twin a single toilet?

Answer 4

£60.

Question 5

How much does it cost a supporter to twin a toilet block?

Answer 5

£240.

Question 6

How many children die each day from diseases related to dirty water and unsafe toilets?

Answer 6

Almost 900.

Question 7

In how many countries do less than half of the population have access to a proper toilet.

Answer 7

47.

Question 8

How many people lack access to clean, safe drinking water?

Answer 8

844,000,000.

Question 9

What are the different types of latrines built by Toilet Twinning?

Answer 9

(1) A simple pit latrine.
(2) The ventilated improved (VIP) pit latrine.
(3) The twin-pit ventilated pit latrine.
(4) The pour-flush latrine.
(5) The composting latrine.
(6) The greening latrine.

Question 10

How deep should the latrine be dug?

Answer 10

A minimum of 1.5 m deep.

Question 11

What happens when the contents of the latrine come within 0.5 m of the top?

Answer 11

The latrine is filled with soil to the top and capped off.

Question 12

According to the World Health Organisation, what is the minimum size required for a latrine for six people to last for five years?

Answer 12

2.3 cubic metres = 1 m long, 1 m wide, and 2.3 m deep.

Question 13

In how many countries does Toilet Twinning work?

Answer 13

At least 12.

Question 14

How much does a latrine really cost?

Answer 14

Between £10 and £200.

Question 15

What is the third biggest killer of children aged five and under in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Answer 15

Diarrhoea.

Question 16

When did Toilet Twinning begin its work through CORD and Tearfund?

Answer 16

2010.

Question 17

When did Tearfund fully take over the affairs of Toilet Twinning?

Answer 17

2015.

Question 18

In how many countries does Tearfund conduct WASH work?

Answer 18

Over 25 countries.

Question 19

What are some of the consequences of not having access to clean, safe drinking water and/or safe toilet?

Answer 19

(1) They’re likely to become sick through sanitation-related diseases.
(2) Illness means they cannot work or farm their land, so they earn less or grow less food.
(3) Children often miss school, because they are sick or because they’re busy collecting water.
(4) Girls often drop out of school altogether when they start their periods if there are no toilets or changing rooms.
(5) Parents have to pay for medicines or food, so they may fall into debt.
(6) Women and girls risk being attacked or bitten by snakes as they go to the toilet in the open, especially if the culture dictates that they have to go out at night.

Question 20

What three things do water and sanitation projects enable families to have and to learn?

Answer 20

Water and sanitation projects enable families to build a toilet, have access to clean water, and to learn about handwashing and other hygiene principles.

Question 21

How many people do not have access to a safe toilet?

Answer 21

2.0 billion.

Question 22

What is Burumeka Kabumbuze’s story?

Answer 22

Cirimiro is a village in South Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Burumeka Kabumbuze, 83 years old, is a widower with 15 children. Because of his age, he could not use the regular family toilet.

With the help of the SWIFT Tearfund teams, Burumeka now has access to a latrine adapted to his needs.

As a carpenter and with the help of the household members, he was able to make a sort of wooden bucket that he placed over the square hole of the latrine to make a hygienic latrine and meet his physical needs. Burumeka feels much more comfortable, he can now use the toilet like everyone else, which has reduced tensions at home.

He also finds that his family is healthier.

Burumeka now finds that his family’s health expenses have decreased.

Question 23

What is Ungwa Sangani’s story?

Answer 23

Lulinda is a rural village in South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In the past, the nearest water source was a river some distance away; a two-hour round-trip that the women made twice a day.

Ungwa Sangani 52, lives with her three children, aged 18, 14 and 10. She thought that the water would be okay to drink. But we had a serious problem with sicknesses like diarrhoea, typhoid, and fevers.

Ungwa is a single parent who earns money from producing palm oil but says she used to have little time for her business. She would have to stop work early and leave my field to go to collect water.

The contaminated water Ungwa collected had to meet all her family’s needs in terms of drinking, cooking, washing, scrubbing plates and any other cleaning she could manage.

Defecation in Lulinda took place mostly in the bush surrounding the village; the few latrines were dirty and poorly maintained; rubbish was left to rot around the village; hand-washing with soap or ash wasn’t practised. Diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases were rife, with children suffering in particular.

Now, however, the community has access to clean, safe water in the heart of the village. Many families have constructed latrines with “tippy-taps” where they can wash their hands, and pits where they can dispose of their rubbish. Hygiene behaviour has improved dramatically.

Tearfund has constructed a new gravity-fed water system at nearby Lusenda, from which water is piped to a number of taps in Lulinda. Tearfund has also helped the community elect a “healthy village” management committee, with a water sub-committee which collects fees from each household to pay for maintenance and repairs to the system.

The management committee now visits each household to check that good hygiene behaviour is being practised, including keeping latrines clean, installing “tippy-taps” to encourage hand-washing as people leave the toilet, and disposing of rubbish in designated pits.

And the health benefits of the process have been felt across the community. The whole village is benefitting from the lower rate of sickness. You can see a difference in the cleanliness of the town and people’s properties. Everyone is managing their waste, as they have rubbish pits. Every family has a latrine, and everyone now washes their hands with soap or ash.

Having clean, safe water close at hand has changed Ungwa’s life in other important ways too. Now she
doesn’t have to get up so early in the morning, she can spend more time in her field and she has more time
to make palm oil to sell. She can now develop this business, because she has the time to go to the market in Uvira.

As a result, Ungwa is now able to buy more food for her family to eat, as well as some new clothes for herself and her children. She even manages to get some much-needed rest. As the water point is close, she can even send the children by themselves to collect water.