About 600,000 people in Kenya's capital live in the Kibera slums, East Africa's largest informal settlement. Congestion is a major problem-- there is not even the space to build toilets. At the moment, there is an average of one toilet per 2,000 people.
Some frustrated residents use polythene bags commonly known as "flying toilets" to dispose of human waste. Said one resident, "It's not safe to go out at night as the toilets are far, so often we are forced to use a polythene bags to relieve ourselves and dump them outside." Flying toilets become a hazard during the rainy season, as water sources get contaminated. Waste coming from the slum has now choked up the nearby Nairobi dam.
International aid organizations have constructed a total of 286 pit latrines across the Kibera slum. But the per-use charge is approximately three U.S. cents, which most residents here cannot afford. Residents are now leading a campaign to convince the land-lords to provide at least the space of a room per renting block for the construction of toilets.
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