Story - Grandmother Knows Best

Writer- Melissa Kyeyune | NGO- Water For People | Country- Uganda | SDG- Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation | Year- 2017 |

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation | Francis Edilu is a farmer with an impressive business card. The words ‘agric-consultancy’ are emphasized on it, because he is ready to give advice to farmers who want to enter the same chili business he is a part of.

Currently he grows chili in Okidoi village then sells it to a middleman who finds market for it throughout Soroti district.
The fruits of his labor are evident in the concrete house he has built for his wife of one year, and their young son. Inside, a small color television shows the latest Nigerian film.

Clearly, Francis is someone that other farmers would like to seek business advice from. There is one unlikely person, however, who might have given him the best advice ever- his grandmother Alleluya, who lives a short walk away from the young couple.

One month ago, Alleluya told her grandson that his home needed a satopan-fitted latrine. At the time, Francis had no latrine in the new home he had built for his young family.

Says Francis, “Grandmother told me that an organization called Water For People had come here to Okidoi while I was away on business, and had sensitized everyone about good sanitation. Even the local leaders were there.”

According to Martin Eyura, the District Health Inspector (DHI), “We went around and created awareness about the sanitation structures using songs, dances and skits. We travelled with the Eastern Choice Drama Actors who were facilitated by Water For People. The plays were all sanitation and hygiene related.”

Under Water For People’s Sanitation As A Business approach (SAAB), the organization engages local leaders to not only sensitize people about good sanitation, but also create the demand for sanitation goods and services. The service providers such as local masons and sanitation retailers, are also facilitated and trained.

“Grandmother told me that I could have a mason come over and build a satopan fitted latrine. This latrine would be unlike any other, as it would have no smells and no flies,” recalls Francis.
Intrigued by the prospect of such a latrine, Francis contacted the leader of his savings group to express his interest.

The savings group immediately put Francis in touch with a local mason. When the mason presented the different options, Francis decided to pay for a latrine fitted with a ceramic squat pan, the more high-end alternative to the satopan.

Up to today, Alleluya credits herself with having introduced her grandson to good sanitation, “I was the first to tell him about it.”

Francis’ next goal is to get his grandmother an appropriate latrine as well, that she can use with ease. Francis can find the raised satopan for his grandmother at SANQUA Engineering, the local depot facilitated by Water For People to sell sanitation products.

This time however, he won’t need to call a mason as the last one trained him to fix satopans as well. Under the SAAB approach, Water For People wishes to improve sanitation but also boost the local economy.

Thanks to wise grandmothers like Alleluya, and obedient grandsons like Francis, Water For People’s goal is being realized one household at a time.

Organization website: https://www.waterforpeople.org/where-we-work/uganda