Toilets and Education

Three of many girls receiving TEMBO sponsorship.

No matter where you travel in Africa, the same thing is true:

Adequate sanitation encourages children to be at school, particularly girls. Access to latrines raises school attendance rates for children: an increase in girls’ enrolment can be attributed to the provision of separate, sanitary facilities.

World Health Organization (WHO) 

In the news this week we learned how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is taking action to fund a solution that addresses a problem affecting the health of so many people throughout the world. They held a Reinvent the Toilet fair and awarded a grant to the California Institute of Technology for coming up with a winning design that met these requirements: it runs without the use of water, electricity, or a septic system; it operates at a cost of no more than 5 cents a day; and it captures energy or other resources. This is part of an impressive larger strategy the foundation has set out. The fair has stimulated a lot of conversation that shows the widespread interest in finding realistic alternatives to both the lack of toilets and adequate sanitation in developing countries. 

Some UN statistics

As an organization that sponsors so many girls and young women for education and micro-business opportunities in rural Tanzania, TEMBO is keenly aware of the difficulties girls face. Toilet facilities are lacking in traditional settings like Kimokouwa. It's a sensitive enough issue for girls in the developed world to sometimes go to school when they are menstruating. Try managing this where there are no toilet facilities or where toilets are shared with boys. At the impoverished and resource-lacking Kimokouwa Primary School, where many of our sponsored girls come from, facilities are very poor. Many other rural schools throughout Tanzania find themselves in the same situation. As a result of very poor hygiene, sickness abounds. This contributes to absenteeism that results in very poor grades.

I am delighted to see that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding so many different initiatives related to overall health and sanitation around the world, including in various districts in Tanzania. They are working through the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program and the winning design in the 2012 Reinvent the Toilet fair is already being tested in South Africa. 

It's so important to see the connection between things like basic sanitation and education. And it's crucial to work with the local residents to come up with a design that meets their needs if we want to be successful. The Community-led Total Sanitation model that originated in Bangladesh 10 years ago, and is now being used by the Gates Foundation, involves villagers, entrepreneurs, and governments working together. You can read more in the strategic overview, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. It's worth the read and our support.

Be Inspired

Some TEMBO sponsored girls who attended TEC - TEMBO English Camp - in 2010.

Dear TEMBO Trust Secondary School Sponsored Girls -

I know many of you in places like Longido may not be aware that the Olympics are taking place in London right now due to a lack of electricity or TV. The athletes are doing some pretty amazing things and I wanted to share one of them with you today. It's about a 16 year old girl named Gabby Douglas.

Gabby's story is printed here in the New York Times. The important thing I want you to know is that this very young athlete has become the first African American woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Gymnastics. This was no small accomplishment and Gabby had to make many sacrifices to reach her goal. Most of all, she had to gain confidence and to believe in herself. She told herself during the competition, "Believe, don't fear, believe."

16 year old, Gabby Douglas: "Believe, don't fear, believe."

Gabby knows she is now an inspiration to so many young girls all over the world and I wanted you to be some of those girls. You may not want to be a gymnast, and you have dreams and goals of your own. The message here is simply BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and have confidence that you can overcome whatever obstacles you find on the path between you and your goal. For you this might be just staying in school, or saying 'no' to marrying young and having a child. Keep your focus on your goal to finish Secondary School, then take the next step to learn something after Secondary School. Then, the next step will be clear. You can do it.

Good luck as you continue Term II studies at different schools in Longido District. I will end with another question I found today - I think it's a good one, not just for you, but for people of all ages.

Shooting For the Moon

This past week some pretty significant things happened in the world. One of them was that Sally Ride died. Many people remember her as the first American woman to fly into space. Sally was this woman, and a lot more. When she flew into space in 1983, Sally became a symbol to many girls and young women that it was possible to move beyond cultural barriers and do things that had never been done before. That's so important.

Some of these girls from Longido and Kimokouwa
are enrolled in Vocational Training courses.

Thirty years later, courageous young girls all over the world are still asking for their rights to be met, including the right to education. In many cultures and for many years, girls have been told their lives would be devoted to building the family home, having children, fetching water and firewood each day, cooking, and cleaning. What if a girl wants to do something different? It isn't easy and the obstacles are huge.

Not everyone has the privilege of helping young girls mount near insurmountable odds in pursuit of their dreams. I am one woman who does, and I am just one of many people.

Astronaut, Sally Ride, was the first American woman to fly
outer space in 1983 - breaking through barriers to achieve her dream.

Last week 11 girls from Longido and Kimokouwa returned to Vocational Training courses and 13 new girls began new Vocational Training programs. Taking this step has the potential to dramatically change their lives. The girls - Rahema, Mary, Martha, Tabitha, Rachel, Ester, Nimfa, Sereya, Upendo, Margreth, and many others, are stepping over the confines of old restrictive barriers and into very strange and new worlds beyond the security of their Maasai bomas and traditions. They are enrolled in many different courses of study including: marketing, tailoring, community development, early childhood education, food preparation, tour guide, police officer, bookkeeping, medical assistant, and agricultural college training. The girls may not think they are doing anything special, but they are trailblazers and role models today, just as Sally Ride was in 1983. The choice they are making today means their daughters will grow up in a world that is very different from their world today.

These 24 girls are courageous for another reason, too. By continuing in school they are saying very clearly "I WILL NOT BE A CHILD BRIDE AND A CHILD MOTHER." They will not be added to the 51 million other girls throughout the world who are adolescent brides and mothers. That is an astounding number that is larger than the entire population of my country, Canada.

To these girls I say, "You are pretty special. You are change makers. You are a very big news story in the world this week."

Just Imagine

I hope every girl, and every woman, and all the men and boys I know in Tanzania and beyond 

will take inspiration from the life of Nelson Mandela today. 

Imagine someone having the audacity to say that 

'no matter what you do, you will never imprison me.'

And even if you do imprison my body, you will never imprison my spirit.

Imagine witnessing this coming true

during our lifetime.

And imagine someone saying that we can accomplish even what seems impossible.

Don't let go of your dreams. 

Your struggle to achieve them is worthwhile, 

for you and those who come after you.

Being 12: the End or the Beginning?

I came across the above quotation from The Girl Effect today and it has really gotten me thinking. Thinking - about all the 12 year old girls in Kimokouwa and Longido who will be finishing Standard 7 in October - at the end of this term. What will the future hold for them? TEMBO will sponsor as many of the girls as we can and, hopefully, other organizations will do the same. Otherwise, the girls will miss the greatest opportunity in the world to set the course for the rest of their lives: Secondary School education. Yes, it really is that important.

Consider this excerpt from Girls Count: A Global Action and Investment Agenda from the Center for Global Development in Washington:

If you want to change the world, invest in an adolescent girl. 

An adolescent girl stands at the threshold of adulthood.  In that moment, much is decided. If she stays in school, remains healthy, and gains real skills, she will marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and earn an income that she’ll invest back into her family.

But if she follows the path laid down by poverty, she’ll leave school and enter marriage. As a girl mother, an unskilled worker, and an uneducated citizen, she’ll miss out on the opportunity to reach her full human potential. And each individual tragedy, multiplied by millions of girls, will contribute to a much larger downward spiral for her nation.

There was another quotation from an entirely different source that struck me, as well: "If you can't feed 100 people, then just feed one." Mother Teresa's words. I put them in the context of girls and school. Individually, we can do little more than help just one girl. And, if you think for one minute that this is not HUGE, it's only because you don't know the girls at Longido Primary School and Kimokouwa Primary School that I know.

Even with sponsorship, the girls face enormous challenges that threaten their success.

I am imagining a backpack filled with encouraging words and wishes and quotations from people all over the world. Imagine that every new girl TEMBO sponsors for Secondary School gets one of these backpacks at the beginning of the school year. If you could drop something inside that could be summed up in a word or a sentence, or a wise saying, what would it be? If you'd like to leave something, click on the 'comments' line just below the post and you can do so. You can also add your name and country, if you like. When I travel to Tanzania in September, I will bring all of your words and wishes and give them to the girls whose lives will be opening up because they are continuing in Secondary School - the next step to changing everything.