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Random Toilet |
One of the most
dreaded problems as a Kenyan citizen is the call of nature in public places and even the not so public places like institutions.
You have to do all you can to prevent such an eventuality. This includes not
eating or drinking anything an hour before leaving the house / office. One
makes a silent prayer if you have kids who will yell “mummy, I want to p
(ee/oo)”. An equal amount of prayer is needed if you have an international
quest who does not understand our nightmare of toilet facilities. I have
reached the end of my tolerance on the matter of "toilet privileges"
in Kenya. In our country, a toilet is treated as a luxury and only a chosen few
are entitled to this facility. I will begin with basics. Our bodies are wired
to take in food and water and we must excrete waste from time to time. On
average every human being must use a toilet once every two hours when awake.
Fellow Kenyans, we cannot wish this away. It is in our wiring as living things
in the animal kingdom. I don't need to school you much on the inevitable act of
excretion since most Kenyans studied the digestive system in basic science, and
just to jog your memory, it ends in excretion.
I feel a little
embarrassed to write on these issues, but again, I realize someone has to. I
must warn you that some of the issues I will raise are rather gross, but allow
me to do it. My only hope is that things can change and change soon. I point
out peculiar issues and “rules” on toilets in Kenya. Some are actually outright
violation of human rights and totally against the rule of nature. This article
presents issues I have observed on challenges with respect to availability of
toilet facilities and usage of toilets by the public. I also point out possible
health hazards as a result of the state of toilet affairs in our nation.
Issues surrounding toilets and peculiar rules
Facilities and toilets ratio
I want to start
with a more subtle problem, the issue of toilets in every building. In Nairobi
for example, there are many buildings without a functioning toilet on every
floor. The question I ask as layman is, what are the standards? My basic
expectation is, there should be a toilet on every floor. Okay, it may sound too
demanding to have toilets in every floor, but how come many buildings don’t
have functional toilets open to customers and they continue to do business?
Learning institutions too are not any better. Many campuses don’t have
sufficient toilets for their learners. For example, we have seen exponential
increase in numbers of students in most varsities, yet there is no expansion in
sanitation facilities. It is not uncommon to find a multi-story building with
lecture halls and libraries with only one toilet. Toilets in sports areas is
just a mirage, completely absent in most institutions. The question whose
answer I need is “why are toilets treated like a peripheral facility in almost
all business premises and institutions?”
Locked toilets
Picture this, you
are pressed, there is no public toilet in sight, you choose to go to a building
that looks fairly decent to look for a toilet. You go through the security
checks and finally gain access to the building, you browse through the floors
looking for a toilet because there are no signs in the first place. Finally,
you see a sign and you get a sigh of relieve since the pressure for the nature
call is also mounting. You gladly turn the lock, and bum! It is locked! How
frustrating can this be? Most of the time, someone will find you with your
frustrated face and directs you to go “borrow” the key from the first office in
the corridor. You rush back to this office, and most of the time you will be
denied the key. Sometimes if the “key manager” has some mercy on you, then you
get it with stern instructions to lock and return it. Armed with the key, you
walk majestically to the most prestigious room ever. Shock on you, its state is
a topic for another day. But at least you are lucky to access it so you use it
and leave it better than you found it. I must confess, I never lock them, but I
faithfully return the key and say a big thank you. Why should toilets be
locked? Why would access be granted only to a chosen few?
Out of order toilet
Toilets do break
down. I have seen some with out of order, or under renovation sign for over a
year. Some have this huge wood hammered across the door and you can for sure
establish that the effort it took to seal it is far much more than what it
would have taken to fix the toilet. If a toilet is out of order for prolonged
period of time, then that facility should be closed until sanitation problem is
solved. The basic rationale is, where are people who operate in that premises
supposed to go for their calls of nature?
Staff toilets
This one has never
made sense to me, maybe someone can educate me. Do staff toilet needs differ
from those of those they serve? Where did this practice come from? Needless to
say, staff toilets get cleaned more often than those of the customers. Are we
in an animal farm of sorts with some animals being more equal than others? In
my opinion, toilets should be the same, be it staff or non-staff.
Commercialization of toilets
I don’t remember
exactly at what stage toilets became a money making affair, but for a long time
now, many public toilets are paid for. In many cities worldwide, toilet
services are offered within the city revenue. This has since changed and it is
almost obvious that one has to pay for toilets in the urban areas including in
malls. Some shopping malls offer these services for free and a big kudos to
them.
Fines for toilet use
Recently, I was
shocked when I took my daughter into a toilet in one of the big hotels in town.
She was nauseated and we urgently needed a place she could gargle some water
and spit. The toilets were easily accessible from the streets and we quickly
walked in. Just when I was helping her, a security guard walks in and says we
need to pay a fine of KES 3000 because we used the toile and we are not
customers to the hotel. This was a shocker to me. Where on earth did such
ridiculous rules come from? We took another 15 minutes to negotiate ourselves
out of the situation and after stern warnings never to return again, we were
set free.
Toilets for customers only
A related rule
common in restaurants is toilets meant for customers only. They go ahead to
have a security guard in place to stop you if you dare try to walk in straight
to toilet. I have had experiences of having to justify that I will use the
toilet first then go ahead to order a meal. How did we stoop this low? The
functioning of human body does not support this style of toilet controls. The
fact is, what I eat in your restaurant, my body will get rid of it later. What
is the rationale for such a rule?
Conversion of toilets to shops
The other very
annoying thing one can easily spot walking around town is the conversion of
spaces that were meant for toilets to shops. Almost all public toilets had
ample space, but a lot of them have been squeezed into small sizes and the rest
of it converted to a tuck-shop. In some places, the spaces have been used
exclusively as shops and no toilets available on site. For those who want to
doubt, visit those intersections and foot bridges on Mombasa road and you will
make this unfortunate observation. Even the designers of these infrastructure
provided for toilet facilities, but because we don’t value such basic
amenities, someone converted it to a shop and there is nothing those who would
need such a facility can do.
Irresponsible use of toilets
This article will
not be fair if I don’t point out the shortcomings on toilet use by members of
the public.
Vandalism of toilets
One of the
rationales often given for locked toilets is that of vandalism. I cannot
understand why someone would break a toilet cistern. Is it for the piece of
metal inside? This still is not a justification to lock toilets. There are
toilets that don’t need cisterns and such should be installed in public places.
It is not justifiable to punish everyone because of a few rogue people who
vandalize such facilities. The point is, where there is a will there is a way. Install
toilet facilities which are harder to vandalize and they are there in the
market.
Improper use of toilets
Sometimes you walk
into a toilet and an outright misuse of the facility greets you. This is a very
common occurrence and people need to change. Many toilets have a lot of notices
asking users to use it well, but I wonder if anyone reads. Maybe we should come
up with a public shaming innovation if there is a chance it will correct the
problem. My thoughts on this issue is that either, we are not well trained on
use of toilet facilities or we really don’t care at all about others and we
feel entitled to other people cleaning after us to the level of flushing a
toilet for us. I know many times the facilities have no water and even when one
is willing to flush, there is no water to flush. Supervised commercialized
toilets are usually cleaner even when the toilets don’t flash, so everyone
pours water after use. The question is, do we need to be supervised to use
toilets well? On this not, I will share a video on how to use a toilet.
Impact on health
I am not a health
expert, but I don’t need to be one to write on this matter. The short and long
of it is, all of us need to excrete waste in order for our bodies to function
well. If how we feel when we are pressed is anything to go by, then we all know
it is not a negotiable urge. Why we have not given it the priority it deserves
bogs my mind.
Bladder
When ones bladder
is full it needs to be emptied immediately, otherwise the muscle that keeps it gets
messed up. Why then do we want to risk anyone breaking such a muscle and
suffering lifetime consequences?
STIs
From the little
knowledge I have, failure to empty bladder often can contribute to STIs. If you
don’t know what that is, then do your research.
Constipation
Delayed use of
toilet leads to hardened bowels and this could result in constipation. Why
would anyone need to suffer constipation because of any of the above rules?
If there is a health
expert reading this, please educate us on consequences of delayed excretion. If
you are one, you know what to do, you owe my nation a blog on this topic.
Conclusion
The
toilets problem is real, and compounded by these so called ‘rules’ around the few toilets we have as a nation. It is
needless to say, we all need to rise to the occasion that the state of our
basic sanitation facilities is calling for. Our sanitation in general is a
mess, but we can start with toilets. It is a very basic need. My call is to all
of us (leaders, corporate, churches, schools, etc.), every time you stop to
think people need food, please remember they need toilets as well. It is one
and the same system. When you do your strategic plans, visions, performance contracts and so on, let toilets be in the agenda. Of course responsible use of toilets is also mandatory,
but I think it is a smaller problem if proper functioning toilets are provided
without all these peculiar rules. If you know of any other toilet control rule,
share in the comments.