Rakiya Abdullah's family from the Ghanaian city of Tamale built this latrine with support from WaterAid and local partner organization New Energy.

Most pit latrines have squat slabs but Rakiya's family moulded cement round a bucket to form a pedestal and fitted it with a toilet seat, so it looks closer to toilets we are used to in the US.

The new toilet has improved health and privacy for the family, as Rakiya described:

“It has made a lot of changes to my life. Before we had the latrine any time I felt like going to the toilet I had to wait until evening. Everybody prayed they wouldn’t need the toilet in the daytime because we didn’t have any public latrines and you had to go to the bush, but at this time of year there were no plants to hide behind. Now I can go whenever I want.

"Before we had the latrine we defecated in the bush and this was a source of contamination as flies could sit on it and then come in the house and sit on our food. Occasionally we got diarrhea or cholera. The feces in the bush would also cause mosquitoes to breed which was a malaria risk.

"We used to attend hospital for treatment. The last time I was ill I had cholera and had to pay for my hospital treatment. This was a lot of money but we had to manage. I had to spend five days in hospital and my sister had to look after my children.

"The change here is that everybody with a latrine is very happy with them and everybody without one is yearning to have one."

Rakiya’s husband, Mumuni Abdullah, added:

“It took time to save the money [the household's contribution to construction costs] and it was not easy, but we are very pleased with the latrine. The situation before was disastrous. Then, you had to wake up before 5am to walk about a mile to relieve yourself. It was very difficult when it was raining and when we had guests staying in our house.

“I’ve noticed a lot of changes in our health since the latrine was completed. There used to be so much feces lying around before. Now, our children have learned that they have to wash their hands and keep the toilet neat. There have been so many improvements. All the people in our community would like to build something like this. Not everyone can afford to do one the same but they are all doing what they can."

Photo: WaterAid / Jon Spaull