Active Program
Composting Toilets - Preventing infection related childhood deaths.
AIPHA has partnered with Humanure Kenya to construct three composting toilets in a children’s home in Nairobi, Kenya.
Our inspiration to change the world comes from our relationships with devoted humanitarians like Samson Muhalia. Samson has dedicated his life to helping Kenyans in need, first through his leadership in Habitat for Humanity Kenya and most recently through his organization Humanure Kenya. Many of us at AIPHA have volunteered in Africa on projects led by Samson . Our combined experience there has taught us that we too can change the world through funding of projects led by Samson.
The Need
Without the basic sanitation these compost toilets provide, groundwater becomes contaminated with solid waste, which then transmits infectious viruses and bacteria. Globally, between 1.5-2 million children die every year due to the resulting illnesses. In Kenya specifically, too many people are suffering from easily preventable diseases such as cholera and dysentery
Project Leader Spotlight
"We shall change the world as long as we remain alive."
- Samson Muhalia, Founder, Humanure Project - Kenya
Water Filtration System Implementation
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AIPHA has partnered with Humanure Kenya to install water filtration systems in 21 institutions: two orphanages and 19 educational centers. The filter system uses a clay filter, which can be cleaned with a brush, and is expected to last five years. It is a self-enclosed system which is then installed on a metal stand. These systems filter water at the 0.1 micron level, removing bacteria and other harmful microbes and providing nontoxic, clean water to the children.
What are composting toilets?
Composting toilets convert organic waste material into a safe and hygienic soil treatment. The process does not require water. Instead it uses organic cover materials e.g sawdust, dry leaves, grass etc. to reuse, rather than remove waste. Additionally, waste composting returns valuable nutrients and carbon back into the soil to restore soil fertility without reliance on chemical fertilizers.
How is AIPHA involved?
Funded through generous donations and in collaboration with Humanure Kenya, we have recently completed three brand new composting toilets at Opera Luigi Community Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, an orphanage just outside of Nairobi in late 2020.This project will benefit 50 children (boys and girls ages 3-18) and 10 staff members at Opera Luigi. The children’s home was started by an Italian bishop who originally came as a missionary to Kenya and never left. When he passed away, the center was taken over by the cook, who runs the home today with the help of donations within Kenya and surrounding African nations.
Prior to this collaboration, the school relied on pit latrines, which are common throughout rural Africa. and are essentially a hole in the ground. This method relies upon proper Fecal Sludge Management practices, such as pumping out water-tight pits, as well as transporting and treating the collected sludge and putting the treated biosolids to safe beneficial reuse, all of which are expensive and require resources and energy to be conducted properly. If this is not carried out correctly, water pollution and public health risks can occur.
This project also supported the local community by using only locally sourced materials, which supported local businesses, and by hiring only rural area carpenters. Additionally, we created new job opportunities for the youths by equipping them with skills of building, carpentry and compost maintenance. Most of them then become facilitators to train others in the community.
Humanure has completed this project and has successfully handed over all materials to the teachers and administrators at Opera Luigi. They have been trained in maintenance and sustainability in order to teach the current and future students about water sanitation, disease prevention and ecological sanitation.
What does a toilet cost?
Humanure composting toilets are inexpensive and very simple in design and implementation. The total cost of this project was $2,636 US.
You can help
There are many schools and villages at risk in Kenya because of primitive and unsafe sanitation.
Your donation, no matter how small, can help fund construction of additional composting toilets for these communities in need.