The unsung heroes of Wajir

[Nationalist]

The unsung heroes of Wajir

 

By Jonah Fisher

BBC, Kenya

 

 

It is just gone 1900 here in Wajir in north-eastern Kenya and the night soil men are gathering around a tractor in the centre of town.

 

These unsung heroes keep the town going

 

These unsung heroes are about to go out for what is surely one of the most unpleasant jobs in the world - collecting what they call "Night soil", that is human excrement, from people's houses by bucket.

 

Many people now take for granted the flushing away of waste using modern infrastructure developments such as piped water and sewers, but in towns like Wajir in north-east Kenya, they have to rely on older systems.

 

The population is almost 100,000 and growing, and with a very high water table close to the ground surface, pit latrines would contaminate the drinking water.

 

So they have had to use a bucket latrine collection system.

 

"These buckets are emptied every night from every house by the council tractors and council night soil men," explains Wajir district council official Ahmed Omar.

 

Health

 

Yet the unglamorous work is not only poorly rewarded but unhealthy as well, as the men were only too quick to tell me.

 

 

One man showed me his medical documents revealing he was suffering from TB.

 

He told me he was emptying the contents of a bucket into the tractor and then some droppings from the tractor went into his eyes.

 

Now he can only use one eye.

 

The other eye has been infected and even this is getting damaged due to the work and pressure of using only one eye.

 

He says they are the heroes of Wajir but are not recognised.

 

"We have got no source of support. If only the authority's system of waste collection and facilities could be enhanced, it would be easier," he says.

 

 

Strike

 

Amazingly, as I was hearing their complaints and thinking to myself: "Why do these men do it?" they seemed to be thinking along similar lines.

 

Having a chance to voice their grievances seemed to galvanise them and lots of them began an impromptu strike, it seemed, and walked off the side roads back to their homes.

 

The smell is overpowering as they move the buckets

 

There was now just a small group of night soil men left who said they would continue and just do a few selected pick-ups at hotels and schools.

 

Some buckets would remain full in Wajir for at least another day.

 

When we reached Wajir High School we found a couple of night soil men dressed in shorts and shirts pulling buckets out from underneath the latrines.

 

As you might expect, the smell is quite disgusting. Each of the black buckets is overflowing with excrement and toilet paper, as they gingerly pull them out.

 

One man picks up the bucket from the side of the road, passes it to the man who is riding on the tank at the back of the tractor, who then tips it into the tank and throws the bucket back onto the side of the road.

 

While the rest of Wajir is sleeping, these men have very little money and with no protective equipment whatsoever are keeping this town from a serious disease epidemic.