The last two weeks have seen the team busy supporting the residents of another rebuilding in the Priority Block who haven’t had access to a working toilet for years.
The engagement involves supporting the residents, mobilized by ICRC and 1to1, to build a communal ablution facility on the site of the building’s historic outside toilet. The new design includes two toilet cubicles, a handwash basin, and enclosed shower and a concrete wash trough. The ablutions will be screened with a perforated wall, and access will be through a gate that will be locked to prevent vandalism.
During lockdown it was difficult to engage residents in a co-design process, instead a series of individual feedback sessions were held by 1to1 to develop the design for the toilet block, which has since again been altered on-site when people started seeing them come to life at scale 1:1.
Much of the sewage infrastructure has been damaged over the years, so the plumber at the original site of intervention is volunteering to help with all plumbing work. Many of the materials being used are salvaged from the neighbourhood, with new fittings, some building materials, and tools being provided by the NRF CEP. The toilets and handwash basin were salvaged by the building’s residents. The building teams is a mixed group of volunteers from the neighbourhood, who typically do informal work on construction sites in their respective trades.
On the eve of Heritage day the toilet cubicles are beginning to take shape.
– Suzette van der Walt
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