Tadieso latrine renewal

Isaac and Theresa

Tadieso is a village near our base in Gyetiase, and is one of the first villages that benefited from latrines when Ashanti Development started its work about 15 years ago. But the methods we used then are not as good as the methods we use now, and some of the latrines had fallen into disrepair. So last year there was a project to renew some of the latrines.

Today I went to Tadieso, to document the new latrines that were commissioned about two months ago.

The concrete cover
has fallen into the hole

Christabel came with me to help me and translate. We found Theresa and her son Isaac, and they were happy to explain to us. Isaac's brother had been using the latrine at the time. The latrine consists of a dug hole, covered with a concrete cover in which there is a smaller hole through which to defecate. The concrete cover had become cracked, and it broke and fell into the hole while he was using it about two years ago. Fortunately he was not injured, but the latrine could no longer be used.

The family used a communal
latrine for about two years

After the latrine was destroyed, the family used a communal latrine about 50 metres away from their house. It consists of a big dug hole and some wooden poles spanning it, to allow the user to squat above the hole. But it is not private, and there is a danger of being stung or bitten by animals. Three months ago the new latrine project was finished, and now they have a new latrine, next to the old broken one.

Gladys, Sarah, and
their neighbour

We also met with Gladys and her mother Sarah, in another house. Their story is the same. One morning about a year ago, they saw that the concrete cover had broken and fallen into the latrine during the night. They had not noticed it had become cracked. Now they also have a new one as part of the latrine renewal project.

Georgina, Jennifer, Isaac,
and Veronica

These two families are in Tadieso Mission, which is one part of the village. The other part is Tadieso Main, so we went there to document another example. We met Georgina, her daughter Jennifer, her grandson Isaac, and his grandmother Veronica. Veronica looks amazing for 60, and I said so, which once translated by Christabel somehow provoke great laughter. The rest of the interview was very cheerful, with a lot of amusement at my questions, and a lot of fun. I did manage to understand the basic story, which is similar to the other ones. Their toilet had not fallen in, but it was deemed close to doing so, and they were included in the renewal project. Jennifer is doing science and was writing about measurement, and she showed me her notes. "We use measurement all the time in our daily lives", she had written. "For example, the grocer measures the weight of sugar when he sells it." Education in Ghana seems to rely on sources that were created in England during the 1940s.