Posts

I’m Optimistic

SDGSUPPORTERS, even though I’m worried about the future of the underserved — and I’m sure you are too — I’m also optimistic for what the future will bring… provided we stand up for what we believe in.

Mean-spirited and greedy actions have motivated millions — literally millions — of us to speak out like never before. And the biggest lesson I’m taking from the last 4 weeks of unprecedented team work is that the power you and I have to make a difference is real, and here to stay.

So even though at times the political climate looks bleak, I believe we’re on the cusp of another great wave of reform. And you are a critical part of it.

Sarah-Jane Brownlie, the team at RaHaSolutions

I’m glad we can count on your support

SDGSUPPORTERS,

We might be at a turning point in our life.

But what you and I do next will decide which way things turn.

SDGSUPPORTERS, we have all been working hard for the last 3 weeks. But keeping it that way won’t be easy.

We know that many companies and CEOs are yet to known about our call to them to also become SDGSUPPORTERS.

Our teams — powered by more than twenty thousand SDGSUPPORTERS like you — are what could make the difference.

SDGSUPPORTERS, I need you in this fight for the long haul. We need to keep reminding the companies and CEOs that we need them. Now, more than ever, we need a strong, nonpartisan alignment of every activity (including advertising) to SDGs (sustainable development goals).

That’s why I’m personally asking you to step up and support our vital work. Can you reach out to a company or CEO today?

We must provide water to the water starved — they are an important part of our society — sanitation and hygiene services to all that lack the same in our society.

I’m glad we can count on your support,

Sarah-Jane Brownlie, the team at RaHaSolutions

KURA RESPONDS POSITIVELY, PUBLIC TOILETS ON KERICHO ROADS

We are happy to inform you that Kenya Urban Roads Authority responded positively, regarding building toilets on roads in Kericho County (see self explanatory twitter conversation above).

TOILETS ON HIGHWAYS MUST BE ON ROAD RESERVES

Public toilets that are poorly located generate a sense of neglect, attracting vandalism, anti-social behaviour and social disorder. And lack of available and appropriate facilities at the right time encourages fouling, and treating diseases associated with open defecation such as typhoid, dysentery or cholera is a significant and costly task.

These issues, if not tackled effectively, can generate a cycle of decline, leading to more entrenched social problems, and seriously impairing quality of place and quality of life for local people.

Others have seen this reality before. HIGHWAY ACT 1980 Part VII Provision of Special Facilities for Highways states that “…112 Provision of picnic sites and public conveniences for users of trunk roads (1) The Minister may provide on land adjoining, or in the vicinity of, a trunk road that is not a special road a picnic site for motorists and others likely to use the road with space for parking vehicles and a means of access to and from a highway. An area of any such land as aforesaid in which there are, or are to be, provided such a picnic site, parking space and means of access as aforesaid is in this Act referred to as a “trunk road picnic area “.

“(2) The Minister may erect buildings and execute works on a trunk road picnic area for the purpose of providing all or any of the following:— (a) parking places for vehicles, (b) a means of access to or from the area from or to a highway, (c) public sanitary conveniences (including lavatories), and…”

“…(5) The Minister may provide public sanitary conveniences (including lavatories) in proper and convenient situations on or under land forming part of a trunk road that is not a special road, or adjoining, or in the vicinity of, such a road and may manage such conveniences…”

KENYA ROADS BOARD, SANI SOLAR TOILETS ON KERICHO’S ROADS NOBLE AND IMPORTANT

Today, we received letter above from Kenya Roads Board (KRB). KRB’s executive director, Eng. Jacob Z. Ruwa, on behalf of the board, acknowledges that the building of solar toilets on the roads in Kericho County is noble and important.

Main reason for building the toilets on road reserves is safety of the public and maintenance staff. This mitigates against a range of actual and perceived safety risks to person and property that may be encountered at public toilets. These include anti-social behaviours such as vandalism, graffitiing, loitering, and drug abuse.

Building the toilets on road reserves is the only means of ensuring that entrances of the toilets face onto the most active space. This alone will reduce the likelihood of crime in set locations. While it is impossible to ‘design out’ crime, careful planning and detailing with crime in mind have been shown to reduce actual crime and unintended behaviours, and to improve public perception of personal safety.

 

RENOVATING TOILETS DONE 6YRS AGO BY NIVEA, BEIERSDORF

This Madaraka Day, we were invited to renovate toilets that have been used for only 6 years. 6 years is a very short period of time for toilets to require renovation. Something must have been done wrongly.

To avoid making the same mistake, we ask: what happened, especially to the walls and floors?

A lack of good toilets affects not only the quality of our schools, it also reduces the dignity and quality of our lives. After all, they are one of the basic facilities that we depend on. Good quality provision instils confidence in public facilities as a whole, helps to inspire positive impressions, and contributes to many other important aspects of life.

It is important that children have the confidence that the facilities they need are available when they are in school – children rightly expect accessible, clean, safe and well maintained toilets.

ROADS IN KERICHO NOMINATED FOR TOILETS!

By Sandra Matata, AFS

Preparations for the toilets to be put up in Kericho are underway with the Kenya Roads Board promising to send us a ‘positive’ letter in response to our email. Raha Solutions has started negotiations with a dealer in containers, CONTECH， regarding design of the toilets (see above). We decided on containers because they are secure, fast, vaible and clean sanitation solution.

Alvin Rono, a bodaboda business person on the kericho-kapsoit route thinks the toilets will be of great help to the motorist community in Kericho and other motorists who use the route. They will no longer have to ease themselves in the thick bushes along the highway, he says. The toilets should have been on the road before the roads were opened for use, he agrees.

Sani Solar Toilets in shipping containers will ensure the needed efficient logistics and fast implementation.

We Have Joined Fight Inequality Alliance

RaHa joins Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA) because they #FightInequality. FIA is a global coalition which has organized a number of activities, including the global Fight Inequality Week of Action, to focus global attention on the scourge of inequality at regional, national, and local levels.

We #FightInequality whenever we #MakeWinners out of the water starved and the toilet-less –– we make winners because  winners keep winning; an idea formally known as cumulative advantage, or the Matthew effect; which explains how those who start with an advantage relative to others can retain that advantage over long periods of time.

YES: global economic inequality is staggering and shaming –– the number of billionaires rose by the biggest amount ever in 2017, half the world’s population lives on between $2 and $10 a day. The 2018 World Inequality Report shows the share of wealth held by the top 1% of earners in the US doubled from 10% to 20% between 1980 and 2016, while the bottom 50% fell from 20% to 13% in the same period.

BUT: think about the story you tell yourself about yourself. In all the lives you could be living, in all of the worlds you could simulate, how much did luck play a role in this one? Have you gotten more than your fair share? Have you had to deal with more struggles than most? Nick Maggiulli asks this question because accepting luck as a primary determinant in your life is one of the most freeing ways to view the world. Why? Because when you realise the magnitude of happenstance and serendipity in your life, you can stop judging yourself on your outcomes and start focusing on your efforts.

Your EFFORT is the only thing you can control. So don’t let good luck put you on a pedestal, #FightInequality without spending – #makerainsafe for you, promote rainwater harvesting  and promote rainwater protection. This will #MakeWinners.

Don’t let bad luck knock you down either—some of us are born with more advantages than others and some of us are born with less, but you should never let that define how hard you try — #FightInequality without spending. Start accumulating advantages, bottle rainwater for income, farm, car-wash… Win by having a reliable clean close toilet and water.

Listen to Kofi Annan, “…From the boardrooms of Wall Street to the streets of Athens, there is a growing consensus that the current economic model is not fit for purpose. We are far from agreement though on what should replace it. What is absolutely crucial is that the voices of the people most affected by inequality must be heard in the debates that follow”… (the emphasis is ours) …”This is why The Elders, a group of independent leaders founded by Nelson Mandela of which I have the honor to be the chair, is working with civil-society activists from the Fight Inequality Alliance to promote an inclusive, just, and bold agenda….”

For another day is the question, who is MOST affected by the inequality – the ‘winners’ are clearly most affected (they feel increasingly insecure) the same way the ‘losers’ are.

HUMANITY FOR GOOD PROPOSED, KYASSONKO NOMINATED

Cecilia Nambalirwa has nominated Kyassonko Primary School for toilet. Cecilia is a fellow of Building Tomorrow Uganda. As a fellow, her work is enviable. She works in four schools found in a hard to reach areas. She has to solve the challenges faced by the schools and villages around the schools. She works with the headteachers and the parents to see to it that they solve the challenges.

She said, “I work on behalf of Building Tomorrow but most importantly to impact and change communities and schools”.

She proposed that Humanity For Good marks the toilet with their name. By marking, Humanity For Good will promote the good work of providing water and toilets to villages and schools.

Humanity For Good is an Icelandic NGO foundation, founded in 2007 by Occupational Therapist, Public Health Scientist and M.Phil in Race, Ethnicity and Conflict and current PhD student Kristín Einarsdóttir (the one on the right in photo of two wearing sun glasses). Humanity For Good recognises that there are many possible paths to peace and for people to gain access to better quality of life and the basic human right to actively participate in the society they live in.

Cecilia said “to ‘Even It Up’, I nominate …Teddy Nansinkombi, Emmanuel Senyonga, Eron Nakirya, Harriet Namugema and Antonio Mugumya…I ask that the nominee’s Solutions be built within their school called Kyassonko Primary School…in Kisekka Sub county, Lwengo district Uganda.

The nominees have agreed to prepare the foundation and provide all unskilled labor required.

Kericho County Roads Nominated For Toilets

On Tuesday 2 May 2018, roads in Kericho county were nominated for toilets – in line with recent Kenya Ministry of Health directive that service providers, road service providers included, must provide their clients with toilets for use free of charge. In the nomination, Mr. Sammy Keter proposed Saos Security firm. The security firm will provide security services.

Today, we informed Kenya National Highways Authority and Kenya Roads Board about the nomination, see email below. Therefore, we will wait for a reasonable period of time for response from the roads authority. We will then start construction of the toilets and related signages.

Portfolio Items