When Busoga Trust goes into a community and creates a new water source, or rehabilitates an older one, the work does not stop there! Alongside providing a new source of clean, safe water, Busoga Trust works with the community to help them further improve their overall health and wellbeing, by helping community members build their own latrines and tippy taps, to promote good hygiene and reduce disease.
Safe fecal matter disposal has for decades been a challenge in rural communities of Uganda as many communities don't have a single latrine, and those that do usually only have traditional latrines (such as a long drop - which is essentially a hole in the ground). These latrines are difficult to keep clean, and often attract flies which can carry disease. This results in communities preferring open defecation to latrine use, which is extremely dangerous to human health, as it can result in contamination of safe water sources and can encourage the spread of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery. Busoga Trust noticed this silent danger and devised ways to curb it.
In order to combat this, Busoga Trust has incorporated the Sato Pan project in its scope of work to encourage communities to use latrines, and make their toilets more pleasant. Watch our short video on the Sato Pan project below:
These Sato Pans have been proved to be of great impact in terms of hygiene; they help prevent bad smell from the latrines and also prevent flies which would otherwise contaminate the food and water in homes. This is all aimed at promoting a safe-water chain which is key to eradicating hygiene-related diseases and infections.
Here is one of our beneficiaries of the Sato Pan project emphasizing the goodness of the Sato Pans and how it has improved the general hygiene of his home.
Meet Waiswa Steven, fifty (50) years of age from Kidera sub-county in Buyende District and a father of six children. He’s one of the beneficiaries of the Sato and water project; he is so thankful for Busoga Trust’s intervention in his community:
"Previously, my family has always been suffering from poor hygiene related diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, and bilharzia which have tremendously affected the economic growth and resulted to poor standards of living and health of my family. But when Busoga Trust intervened in my community they brought us Sato Pans at a subsidised price and after inserting them in my latrine, I have realised a lot including a reduction in bacterial infections and other diseases, and I can comfortably use my latrine without experiencing the bad smell. This has increased the interest in comfortable use of the latrine by my family than doing open defecation!
Thank you Busoga Trust for changing the face of my home and our community in terms of sanitation and hygiene!"
Written by Waibi Moses and Namukose Winnifred