I never knew how shameful the absence of a latrine was...

Ukidi Terensio a 56 year old man and his wife Acibu Regina aged 54yrs live in Alengo village Zeu Sub- County in Zombo district, one of the districts in West Nile that is implementing the DFID funded sustainable sanitation and hygiene results project.

Being parents to eight grown up children, Ukidi and his wife had become accustomed to a life of sharing a latrine with their children who lived nearby, following the collapse of his latrine.

Even though he felt a sense of unease every time he had to cross his homestead to his son's latrine he and his wife continued making the walk to their son's latrine. One day Ukidi and his fellow community members attended a community led total sanitation (CLTS) triggering meeting. The SNV local partner –Water School who were facilitating the CLTS exercise helped awaken the dormant unease in Ukidi. "I felt ashamed that a grown man like myself had failed to provide something as basic as a latrine for his wife. I knew then that I could not go on with life as it was, visiting my son's latrine and inconveniencing his wife and children," a reflective Ukidi said.

Two months after the CLTS triggering Ukidi had put up a latrine, handwashing facility and a bath shelter, making him one of the few elders in his village to own a latrine. Ukidi's is not sitting on his achievements however, he now has a new goal and that is to teach others about the benefits of having a latrine. He also plans to improve on his latrine structure once he gets adequate resources.

"My Dignity was restored once we learnt how to construct round pits to deal with the collapsing soils in our communities. Now I am filled with pride because I have a clean latrine," Kwonga Sidonia of Jupungolo village in Pakwach town council Nebbi district.