I attended an awesome sanitation conference this week. It was organized by the Coalition for NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS). As is typical of such gatherings, privileged elitist grown ups, who for the most part, are belly-full (including me), spoke big English and expressed high-flying ideas. There were colourfully robed traditional rulers. There was also the Eastern Regional Minister (politically belly-full) who arrived one hour late after about 150 people were seated just to read a speech on behalf of the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment. Hmmm!
The theme for the conference was “Reaching the MDGs for sanitation: Options to expand and accelerate coverage.” (MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals). The goal for sanitation is to “Reduce by half, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation” by the year 2015, a mere seven short years away.
Statistics of coverage world wide show that much of Africa, including Ghana, has deplorable sanitation. 60% of Africa’s population is currently without access to safe sanitation with one million Africans, mostly children under age five dying every year from poor sanitation. Just about 10% of Ghanaians have the luxury of direct access to toilet facilities. All others use public facilities, bushes, beaches and varied sorts of ungodly degrading sites. This is a frightening and shameful fact indeed. And we do not practice sanitary solid and liquid waste disposal either. We throw garbage away ‘by-heart.’
The UN declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation as a way to encourage humanity to aggressively solve this nagging filthy unhealthy problem. The year is far spent. I have had time to reflect on a quotation by Mahatma Ghandi: “Sanitation is more important than independence.” What does it mean for us as a people that after 51 years of nationhood, we make a fail grade in the matter of managing the waste we generate from living?
On the sidelines of this conference, Mole XIX, was 12 year-old Cindy Doe, a class six female pupil of Solomon School in Koforidua. She spoke on behalf of the children of Ghana. That little girl melted my heart with her confidence. So today, I step aside to give space to Cindy as a tribute to the children of Ghana. I reproduce the full text of her speech and her responses to a few questions I asked afterwards. Hear her:
“My name is Cindy Doe and I am here to represent the children of Ghana. I am very happy to be called upon to give a few words on the opening of the Mole XIX conference of the water and sanitation sector.
Six years ago, children like me spoke for the first time in the United Nations General Assembly and they presented a document called “A World Fit for us.” Since then, young people all over the world have been taking actions to make this world “World Fit for Us.” According to the children who participated in the world fit for children programme, there are no better people to consult on children’s rights than children themselves.
We have raised our voices and taken responsibility for those issues that directly impact us. Not long ago, the J8 also met and we the children made our input. As this year is the International Year of Sanitation, we the children of Ghana should not be left out. It is important to note that we are awake and will support Ghana to reach the MDG targets.
Sanitation is not a dirty word! Clean water and sanitation are very important to use as children because they are not only about hygiene and disease; they are about our dignity and development. This is why policy makers, opinion leaders and stakeholders gathered here today must make an effort to make proper sanitation accessible and available to everyone because everyone, that means ALL, have the right to a healthy life and a life with dignity. Everyone, including children have the right to sanitation.
Mr Chairman, if the current rate of sanitation delivery is not doubled or tripled, Ghana will miss the sanitation target of the MDGs. This will have serious impact on the development of Ghana, with children continuing to pay the price in lost lives, missed schooling, in diseases, malnutrition and poverty. In Ghana, over 80% do not have access to safe latrines.
Lack of toilets make women and girls vulnerable to violence if conditions force them to defecate only after midnight and in secluded areas. Improved sanitation enhances dignity, privacy and safety especially for women and girls. Schools with decent toilet facilities enable children, especially girls reaching puberty, to remain in the educational system.
“Clean, safe and dignified toilet and hand-washing facilities in schools help ensure that boys and girls get the education they need and deserve,” said Ann M Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director.
Sanitation is vital for health. Sanitation is a good economic investment. Sanitation leads to social development. Sanitation helps the environment. Sanitation is achievable.
To end, I will request that children are involved in decisions that affect us. Together, we can continue building a Ghana fit for us. Thank you.”
Later in an interview, Cindy added that as a matter of urgency, the government must provide urinals and toilets in all schools in the country so children do not have to defecate around because that pollutes the environment. She explained that some bathrooms in schools are too dirty so some children prefer to ease themselves in the bushes.
If we should go round rural communities in this country to encourage children to share their opinions about the state of their sanitation, we might hear the voice of Araba Atuah, a 16 year-old in an end-of-the-road village. Hear her: “Snakes hide in the pit latrines. One sunny afternoon, I saw a big snake on the wooden plank of a communal pit latrine. I resolved not to use the communal facility again. I think it is time we had our own household latrine.” (Culled from a PlanGhana poster.)
You would wish that Araba’s story is unique to our rural areas. The sad fact is that as a result of rapid urbanization, when all roads appear to lead only to our cities, the sanitation situation of children who live on the fringes of society in urban centres is no better than that of the rural child. There are urban/peri-urban children who live in kiosks, shacks, containers and all sorts of weird structures. Have you ever wondered: When street children have to ‘go’, where do they go? Nature calls everybody everyday. It is critical how all of God’s children respond to nature’s calls. In dignity!
Children are honest and can express their opinions freely if we let them and especially if we actively seek out their opinions. Adults are mechanical, a direct result of having lived for so long and losing innocence. If we admit that we adults are goners, almost on our way out of this earth, then we would also admit that this country is for the children. So why are we failing the next generation through poor management of our waste? In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo said: “The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers…. The sewer is the conscience of a city.” Where is our collective conscience?
dorisdartey@yahoo.com; +233208286817
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