American Friends is seeking donations to support a critical sanitation project.
The importance of proper sanitation capacity at an educational institution in the developing world cannot be stressed too much. In the disease-ridden Mukuru slum in, many of the health benefits for the school’s community are obvious. Perhaps the greatest benefit, though, may be less apparent. Having proper toilets in a school serving adolescents is of crucial value to girls.
In Mukuru and most of the developing world, girls who age into adolescence come under unrelenting pressure to quit school in order to help around their homes, go to work to earn income, and/or marry. Only the most determined families and young women can successfully resist these pressures. Not having separate toilets for girls and boys has been consistently shown to be an added barrier that countless adolescent girls do not overcome. Having private bathrooms for girls, on the other hand, dramatically increases retention of those students.
The AFG-funded toilet complex renovation will create these more favorable conditions for girls. When completed, the toilet complex will consist of 32 easy to maintain toilets, divided equally between girls and boys, with entrances to their respective toilets on opposite sides of the building, each toilet being housed in a dedicated stall with a door that closes and provides privacy.
If you would like to make a donation to support this project, please click below, or send your check, as shown below, noting, “Restricted for Gatoto Sanitation project.”
American Friends of Gatoto’s limited direct costs are paid by Board member donations. One hundred percent of all other donations are forwarded to Gatoto.
In 2015, its first year of operation, AFG raised and forwarded $85,000 in donations for GIDP. In 2016, we raised $100,000 to help fund Gatoto’s operating budget; in addition, we donated $45,000 to pay the majority of the cost for the construction of a much-needed drainage trench on the school’s northern boundary.
In 2017, AFG donated a total of $165,000 to Gatoto–$100,000 for 2017 school operations and an additional $65,000 for hot meals, secondary school scholarships and other purposes.
In 2018, we will send Gatoto a minimum of $140,000–$100,000 for the operating budget, $15,000 for the morning porridge program, and at least $25,000 for secondary school scholarships and other uses. We will also begin to accrue a capital reserve to support a building campaign on the campus.
Gatoto is an extraordinarily efficient organization. Your donations matter.
Please send checks to:
American Friends of Gatoto
Address: 4320 Tuckerman Street
University Park, MD 20782-2145
For wire transfer details, please contact us.