News from a secondary school

Earlier this year we put in Eco-San toilets (adapted for equatorial Africa) for the girls in a Secondary school. They are working well and the schools is processing the urea to use on their crops. (Most schools do some farming for instruction and to supplement school lunches.) The school is very proud of the well-maintained toilets and their very green and healthy crops. They no longer purchase urea as fertilizer and might soon start selling the product locally. They process the urine by standing the full drums in the sun for about a week and mixing with water.
This school which is struggling so hard to improve was seriously compromised a few months ago when eight senior girls were found to be pregnant (one by a senior teacher). The teacher has been indicted and his teaching licence revoked. The abuse of girls by teachers is a very real and prevalent problem and one reason why the clergy here have asked me to run a seminar for them to discuss the issue and what communities can do. We have been talking to the school Principal about various awareness strategies both for boys and girls  A girl's career virtually comes to a dead stop when she gives birth, while boys continue happily sometimes avoiding all responsibility.
Situated in a very poor area, the school sees frequent absenteeism from girls who cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. We looked a while ago at the possibility of providing re-usable pads but never really settled on a pilot project. Maybe with the relationship we have with this school, this would be the place to start.

On a happier note, this school is the second to run Read for the Top in their senior (examination) class. We shall hold heats for 66 students on Friday and the finals next Monday.