As a nation, we have toilet issues.
There are many people out there who have no toilet etiquette and suffice to
say, many of them are not the down trodden who live in villages or slums as you
might think, but the educated well heeled.
Patrick M, is a tight who some
years ago, threw a simple barbecue at his crib in Munyonyo. The numbers on the
guest list were pretty conservative – 15 of us, all educated, good family
backgrounds, well-travelled and with more than above par manners.
Having ‘above par manners’ is
something that didn’t go down well with Patrick when he came back from the
washroom. He berated us because somebody had peed on the toilet floor. “Who
does that?” he bemoaned. “Look at all of you. One of you peed on my floor and
I’m not amused!”
It so wasn’t me because I had yet
to go to the toilet but when I did, rather than incur his wrath if I didn’t get
my pee aim right, I took myself out into his garden, found some shrubbery and
started doing my thing. Half way through my pee, I heard a grunt in the dark
followed by - “ani afuka wano?” To my
horror, it was our host Patrick.
Getting back, over the past eight
weeks, there have been stories in the papers that make for ‘disturbing
reading’. One read: ‘Toilet Paper Unhygienic, Say Doctors.’ The next read: ‘CAO
Tasks LC Leaders On Toilet Policy’. Next: ‘Residents Shun Latrines’ and the
last: The National Household survey Indicates 803% of Ugandans Defecate In The Bushes and Karamoja Sub-Region Leads In This Vice.”
Hmm, let’s take it toilet-by-toilet don’t you think?
Toilet Paper Unhygienic Say Doctors
The story reads: “Using dry
toilet paper for anal cleaning leaves faeces behind, which exposes one to
urinary tract infections (UTIs).”
The discovery comes after a new
revelation by American doctors that dry toilet paper, “…moves faeces, but it
doesn’t remove it”, which makes women develop UTIs as the bacteria moves to the
urethra. “If they’re using dry paper, they aren’t washing all of themselves.
It’s just unclean,” one of the doctors said.
Dr Ekwaro Obuku, of Uganda
Medical Doctors Association, chipped in: “Toilet paper removes the faeces while
the water cleans everything thoroughly. However, in our setting where most
people don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet, the most important
thing is to encourage them to do so.”
Residents Shun Pit Latrines
In Orom which I am told is a
sub-county of Kitgum district, their issue with toilets has nothing to do with
whether to use toilet paper or not. Rather, they just don’t see the need to go
and poop in a toilet or pit latrine. Many of them especially the elderly think
“it’s unbecoming to waste time constructing a house for human waste yet
defecating in the open seems to be easier.” Eh?!?
CAO Tasks LC Leaders on Toilet Policy
Meanwhile Bushenyi have formed
a united ground with their brothers and sisters in Orom, a stance that has so irked
Bushenyi CAO, Elias Byamungu. You see, people from Bushenyi don’t have toilets,
are seemingly too lazy to dig pit latrines and are not in the least bothered
about pooping in the open.
‘National Household Survey - 83% of Ugandans Defecate In The Bush and
Karamoja Sub-Region Leads In This Vice
Meanwhile in Karamoja, they finally
have something to shout about! Of the 83% of people in Uganda who don’t have
toilets, the Karamajong top the list. Is that something they should be proud
of?
Conclusion
I know of somebody who always has
a mobile toilet following him wherever he goes. If only we could be like him,
Uganda might just be a cleaner place to live in?
Pictures: New Vision
Pictures: New Vision
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