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VILLAGE SANITATION IN MKWAJA VILLAGE
Many of the villages along the coast suffer with cholera
problems in the wet season. Long standing cultural roles, unchanged because
of very limited education, mean that young girls collect water for each
household, unaware of the dangers of disease. In the dry season, this
often involves walking great distances. It is, therefore, not surprising
that, when it rains, these girls take the chance to collect water from
around the village wherever it lies. Unfortunately, many people still
don’t have toilets, and use the bushes around the periphery of the
village for their ablutions. So, infected water is often collected and
cholera outbreaks occur up and down the coast every year at this time.
The process of each household digging a toilet would normally be simple,
ie, dig a hole and a thatched structure around it for privacy. However,
in these coastal villages, the soil is soft sand and a far more sophisticated
and expensive structure is required involving the digging of proper septic
tanks made of concrete. Such structures are way beyond the budgets of
most people, and so they exist with no toilet.
In 2004, A Tent With A View, along with US Aid, funded the building of
two toilet blocks, each with six toilets, to help clean up the area around
the village, and prevent the outbreak of cholera. The early signs are
good. We hope to build further blocks to encourage a permanent end to
the rainy season problems.
THE HAPPY FAMILY APPROACH – SHARED
RESPONSIBILITY, SHARED REWARD.
As a company, we are committed to our staff and strive
to build a pleasant working environment. We are also aware of the difficulties
of building future security for many and are working to provide employees
with as large a safety net as we can. To this end, we first opened up
shares in the company to staff, at a hugely preferential rate and even
offered some of the longest serving employees further shares as a reward
for their loyalty. This not only provides security for the long term,
but encourages participation in all aspects of the business. Although
we do not want to see anyone leave, we will proudly encourage and support
anyone who goes on to start their own enterprise having learned the basics
of business management through this programme.
At a far more fundamental level, we have, over the years
helped ensure that every member of staff owns their own home. We started
this at the end of the 2004/05 season, and have already helped fifteen
members of staff, providing soft loans against salary increases, so that
they do not squeeze disposable income. Most were for younger members of
the team who used the money to buy a plot of land, several more were for
those with land to get the building works moving, and a couple even bought
a house outright.
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