A child carries water through the slum of Kifumbira, a maze of garbage, unplanned housing, mud and human waste which flows through makeshift drains in the Kawempe District of Uganda's capital city Kampala.

There are few toilets in Kawempe. Sanitary facilities are deemed to be a waste of money-earning space by most landlords and the few that do serve the sprawling slum are simply holes overflowing with human waste and maggots. No flush, no porcelain seat to sit on, no toilet paper. No soap, no water. Just a hole.

With nowhere else to go, most inhabitants of Kawempe are forced to simply defecate on the ground among their houses or into a bag which gets thrown into the nearest gutter.

In Kifumbira, a slum in the Kawempe Division of Kampala, there are only four toilets for every 2,000 people. Area Councillor, Ssempiri Henry says that in Kifumbira alone at least three children die from diseases related to unsafe water and sanitation every month. Many others get very sick, mostly with chronic diarrhea, on a regular basis.

“On average three children die from diarrhoea and dysentery every month. The mortality rate is very high in our area, because of poor sanitation. There are cases of diarrhea every day.”

Most latrines in the slum are of a poor standard. They are usually full and therefore out of use, because the community members lack the money to empty them. The toilets require a vehicle to come into the slums and and empty them. With such a large population using so few toilets, they get filled up very quickly. And so the latrines are not used, and people practice open defecation, meaning the entire slum is contaminated with human waste.

Photo: WaterAid / Benedicte Desrus