South Africa:  Eco Toilet Project

ECO-TOILETS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN
CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT CENTRES

- Greta Du Bois Cleynhens
 
The Rotary Club of Morningside, together with the Adopt A Loo, a project of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn, have initiated a project in Diepsloot, South Africa to provide toilets to Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres. Many of these have inadequate or no toilet facilities, creating health problems and damaging the dignity of children from an early age.  Depending on the location of the ECD centre, this project will involve either the construction of new EcoToilets or the refurbishment of existing facilities.
 
Morningside has started with building four EcoToilets at the Khensani Collections school in Diepsloot and to date have had requests from an additional 27 ECD centres.  The goal is that all ECD centres in Diepsloot have safe and sanitary toilet facilities that maintain the dignity of the children, benefiting more than 1,200 children.

As of June 4, 2025 eight toilets have been installed, one of which is a toilet for physically challenged children, three are under construction and will be completed soon, and a further three have been identified for construction once the current ones have been finished.

Thanks to contacts made by K-F Rotarian and past Morningside member, Greta Du Bois Cleynhens, the Rotary Club of Kingston-Frontenac donated C$ 1,500 and the Rotary Club of Cordeirópolis (Brazil) R$ 1,500 for the Eco Toilet Project in June 2025, becoming the first overseas Rotary clubs to support this important initiative.

     

June 4 Update from Morningside:

We have been working with Donate a Loo, who is supported by The Rotary Club of Johannesburg, New Dawn, with whom we share resources through Donate a Loo.

  • The costs to date are R135,000 (US$ 7 600) Of this the Rotary club of Morningside has contributed R60 000 (US$ 3 400) and Donate a Loo a further R60 000 (US$ 3 400)
  • We have been promised an amount of R 363 250 (US$ 20 350) from a fund collected by our PDG, Riana Pretorius, which we expect to receive shortly.
  • Estimated total expenditure for all three phases of the project is R 1,25m (US$ 70 300), which has not yet been funded.
  • We are considering applying for grants, but want to build up more of a track record. Also, as a requirement we would need to partner with at least one international sponsor.