We support at-risk youth from the slums of Nyeri county by running a drop-in centre that provides refuge from the streets and programs to help them escape poverty. We just rebuilt our centre in stone to make it safe and stable, but are now required by the new local government to add a two-stall public toilet. This will provide a hygienic solution to a community where basic sanitation is lacking and it is common for 20-30 people to share a pit latrine.
Our centre supports slum communities that lack basic infrastructure needs. Water is expensive, many homes lack lavatories and it is common for 20-30 people to share a pit latrine. We have not had a toilet at our centre before, but have recently been told by the new local government that we must install a public toilet immediately.
The project will raise the funds to install a two-stall public toilet (one male, one female) outside our centre. This will provide those youth who access our centre with facilities with appropriate sanitary conditions, to which they likely lack access at home. As our centre is used by the community more broadly to host community meetings up to 1500 people a year will benefit. We plan to install a rainwater tank/piping to help avoid some of the need for high cost local water.
We are required by the local government to undertake this project. Keeping our doors open to youth will allow us to keep offering youth a safe refuge from the streets and access to programs like job skills training, counseling and health education. Empowered youth are able to find jobs or start businesses, support their families and contribute to building the community. Over time, associated problems like HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and prostitution should fall.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).