Which Would You Choose??

Written Before Moving House:

I duck out of our local duka (shop) and head down the path to our ‘toilet’, struggle with the plastic sheeting that is flapping about in the wind I finally give up and let myself be exposed to the cows lazily grazing in the field, the dried out stalks of maize and hope not to be spotted by a potential customer coming walking along the road. Gazing longingly at our house across the other side of the paddock with it’s solid brick walls I look forward to the day when I can go to the bathroom and know that a gust of wind won’t reveal me wrestling with my kanga (a large piece of wraparound cloth) with which Tanzanian women have perfected the art of covering themselves when doing their business but I can hardly seem to coordinate all that is required. I am very thankful however for the compassionate person who has tightly woven maize stalks around the walls as last week it wasn’t just the door that was exposing me to the village but the plastic sheeting walls that had ripped in all the wrong places!

Gody is sceptical about the simple composting toilet that I have been planning for use in our house as water will be a scarce commodity and we certainly don’t want to see the precious resource flushed away 5L or more at a time. Consisting of a simple design including a bucket and wooden box with a seat this toilet will serve to save water, provide eventual compost for gardens (perhaps not the veggies!) and scare away guests. Most Tanzanians don’t like the thought of sitting on a toilet seat that others have touched let alone a bucket right on top of what others have provided! But if they are so inclined we can offer the choice of walking across the field and taking their chances with our other more exposed option.

After Moving House:

When we moved Gody’s plan was still to use the toilet across the paddock next to our duka…the one that regularly exposes one to the village. I knew after the first day of all that walking back and forth and the struggle at night to hold it in that he would give in pretty soon and test out the composting option.

It took only 2 days before he rang me at work to tell me I could expect a new indoor toilet when I got home…it’s pretty crude, just a roughly cut wooden seat on top of a 60L bucket but it does the job, doesn’t smell and Gody is actually pretty proud of it! We don’t have a designated room for it yet though as plans were for a proper pit toilet outside for guests to use and only we would have to use the composting version in our ensuite bathroom. Right now the guest bathroom seems more of a long term plan so all get to try out our large compost version in our open laundry room! We have to announce when to not pass by so nobody gets a scare.