Shannon Family: Nearly 1/4 of Addis Ababa Residents lack toilets

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Recent report on the state of sanitation in Addis Ababa.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88861

Jeff McLainApr 29, 2010 08:15 AM
how have you witnessed the lack of toilets in your living there, or haven't you?
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The ShannonsApr 29, 2010 11:52 AM
That's a great question. We have toilet in our house. However, I imagine that a few of our neighbors do not - or at least not what we usually think of as one. Many Ethiopian toilets are squat toilets and a lot of places it is not much more than a glorified hole in the ground. We have a western toilet, however...and most restaurants that we have been in have some form of a western toilet.

One sign that you notice here of a lack of toilets is that you see men along the road relieving themselves a lot. At first it caught us off guard, but not anymore, its very widespread. Its always a bit funny to see a businessman in a suit standing along the main street peeing in the ditch. This doesn't mean that they don't have toilets at home, however there is a lack of public ones.

It was also funny when we recently took a bus trip to the North. Because there was no bathroom on the bus, we stopped a few times along the road and the men went to one side of the road and the women to the other. Everyone found some bushes, did their business and then reboarded. There is not much room for shyness...you just try to be as discreet as you can be!
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