No One Should be Scared to Poop
All over the world, 2.5 billion people have no safe, dignified place to ‘go’. In addition, our little ones, young children under the age of 5, truly fear using a pit latrine (the common, inexpensive hand-dug pit). These pit latrines, cement or not, can be very scary for anyone. Children think they will fall in, get locked inside (if there is a door) and, it is very dark and scary inside. Because if this fear, children often skip the latrine- even if they have one- and opt to defecate outside.
Defecating outside due to fear of using the common pit latrine leads to the spread diseases like typhoid, cholera, diarrhea and even, death. It also puts children at risk of attacks.
At Drink Local Drink Tap, we not only wanted to curb this fear, but we wanted to change the future habits of these little ones as well. We sat down as a team and brainstormed how we could make pooping fun for kids. Our new, small innovation is not only changing the health of families and communities now, but it’s shifting behaviors towards a lifetime of better health and improved dignity.
Pictured below, you will find our ‘half pint door’ for kids, creative paintings inside the stall, and smaller holes for ‘going’ in. Children no longer can get locked inside, cannot physically fall in, and have a special place that is only for them. And don’t worry, for extra small baby potty training, especially in refugee camps, we distribute plastic baby potties ($2 each) which families can easily clean, carry with them if they move or pass to other families when they are done potty training.
