Another toilet project complete: 12 new toilets for 441 children & menstruation support for 194 girls
Project location: Majimoto Primary School. GPS location: -3.495725,36.8516567
Since this project, only 4 girls missed school due to their period. Previously this number was 194 girls missing 1 or more days of school due to their period.
Children at Oldenderet deserved better…
Majimoto primary school is a very remote and almost forgotten about school in rural Arusha, Tanzania. When we first visited in 2019 we witnessed the hardships students and teachers faced every day in an attempt to get an education to help them get out of poverty in the future. We have been working with the Majimoto community and their school since 2019.
The biggest concern for most parents at Majimoto school, even those with no choice but to bring their children there, was the school's toilets. Majimoto Primary School has a total number of 194 girls with 6 toilets, which means one toilet for every 32 girls, which is against the usual standard of 20 students per toilet. We witnessed an urgent need for more safe, clean, sanitary and period-friendly toilets.
Girls were really struggling…
Girls used old rags during their period and found it extremely difficult to privately and hygienically manage their period whilst at school causing them to stay at home 4-5 days every month which was negatively impacting their academic attainment, confidence and morale.
There was almost no menstruation hygiene management (MHM) or sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) education for boys and girls. There was so much taboo around the subject that both girls and boys found it so confusing and scary.
Made with Hope, with the support of the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust, was able to transform these toilets and support girls during their menstruation.
“Everybody was concerned about the safety of the old pit-latrine structure built decades ago using small blocks which are not strong enough to hold the building; and for this reason, parents were apprehensive about the safety of their children and the local government was considering closing the school down because of the toilets.”
The toilets before
“The toilet’s doors had no locks, so we had no privacy, and the hygiene situation inside was disgusting. Some little children in the lower grades would often defecate on the open grounds because they couldn’t hold on in the long queue, while others feared the structure could collapse on them”
This project tackled these problems by:
Conducting 4 Menstruation Hygiene Management (MHM) and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) education to 173 girls and 185 boys to decrease taboo, and increase understanding of menstruation and SRHR.
Distributing reusable sanitary products to all girls of menstruating age to increase hygiene and confidence in managing their period.
Constructing 9 pour-flush toilet cubicles, 1 cubicle for children with disabilities, 1 changing room, 2 boy’s toilets and a boys’ urinal area for 10 boys at a time.
Constructing handwashing facilities and an incinerator to reduce the risk of hygiene-related diseases and increase their confidence in managing their period at school.
Trained 2 teachers & 120 parents to support the students about MHM and SRHR and increase the sustainability of the project.
“So many girls would miss my lessons during their menstruation. It was so sad to see girl’s getting behind in their classwork because they stayed at home during their menstruation so that they could use their safe and private toilet at home”
The toilets after
Since this project, Majimoto girls’ examination results have increased by 78% and their attendance has increased by 85%.
The impact of this project at Majimoto:
100% satisfaction from girls, head teacher and community members.
Increased concentration in class by 80%
Increased grades of 78% of girls
85% increase in girls attendance during their period after toilets were built
100% of girls have increased confidence to manage their period safely and hygienically whilst at school
10 handwashing stations and water supply installed increased handwashing behaviour by 94%
A collaboration worth celebrating
Hundreds of Majimoto community members came together to volunteer their time to help construct the toilets, and learn about how they could support their girl students during their menstruation. We had a huge celebration event to open the toilets and recognise the hard work the community had given.
We are so thankful to the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust and Majimoto community for enabling this project to happen.
Made with Hope is run by dedicated volunteers here in the UK so 100% of the donations from this project went direct to this project at Majimoto Primary School.