New Toilets Improve Hygiene In Tofala Hill School

In May 2015, ERuDeF responded to the pressing need of a toilet at G.S. Mmouckmbie in Alou Sub-division. With suport from Man & Nature’s Net Positive Impact (NPI) project, ERuDeF constructed a six-chamber toilet handed to the school.

By Akeh Nug

Barely a year after, the sanitation and hygiene conditions in the school greatly improved. Staff and children alike now ease themselves in comfort. The children have stopped using the bushes around the school as toilets. Girl-children feel more confident to go to the school and there has been an increase in their number who registered in the 2016 academic year.

The new toilet rendered the surroundings of both the school and the community free of human waste which had earlier found depository just about anywhere. Nearby streams, which had been contaminated by children emptying their bowels in them, have also regained their purity. In the near future, it is hoped that the population will enjoy a healthier lifestyle as water-borne diseases triggered by contaminated water sources would have dropped drastically.

“The school was in dire need of a toilet, so providing us with one has improved hygiene and sanitation at the school,” says Mrs. Kedju Priscilla Mabu, head teacher of G.S. Mmouckmbie. The PTA chairperson of the school, Nkemgim Christopher, says he is very proud that his school is the first to benefit from such a hygienic gesture.

“We can never stop to be grateful to ERuDeF for this generous and timely support made to the school. We will forever be grateful to ERuDeF for this wonderful initiative. Our children now and in generations to come will live to tell the story,” says Nkemgim.

The Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary hosts some of the world’s most critically endangered primate species including the Cross River Gorilla and the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee. It is also the habitat of the Turaco Bannerman, the Red-eared monkey and the Giant forest squirrel. Hence, the beneficiaries were urged to treat the gifts as ERuDeF’s way of providing them with alternative livelihood sources through quality education.