This is how to run the revolootion

BREAKING news! We got through the week without any poo making headlines. What a relief. I suppose we should be grateful that the only province under the Democratic Alliance is the Western Cape; if the party was running other provinces, there would have been more brown stuff hitting the fan because the number of townships that do not have toilets nationally is far more than what has been reported.

Those responsible would rather keep this “challenge” hidden from us.

The government obviously bears the responsibility for providing sanitation and services to citizens. But in the absence of such services, can the community rise up and make things happen for itself?

This week I met an amazing young woman, Candice Sehoma. She is only 21 years old, but despite her youth she can teach many of us a thing or two about taking our destiny into our own hands. She is determined to make her township a bucket-toilet-free zone, one building block at a time.

Candice grew up in Alexandra, one of the poorest townships in South Africa. Alex is not pretty. Despite the City of Johannesburg’s efforts at “renewal”, Alexandra remains one of the most densely populated areas in Johannesburg in which residents have to live side by side with massive rodents.

Although it may be convenient to see Cape Town as the only city with inadequate toilets, the reality is that there are many people across the length and breadth of South Africa who suffer the indignity of portable toilets and, in the worst scenario, bucket toilets.

Living in Alex, Candice knows all about bucket toilets.

She has started a foundation called Building Blocks and is mobilising the community to roll up their sleeves and build their own toilets. She has approached corporate entities and local business people to support this effort. In turn, the residents are expected to contribute whatever they can and be involved in the actual building process.

In this way, there is a sense of ownership and skills transfer. Community members are proud of these toilets, because they are the result of their own work and sweat. And it all started with a 21-year-old university student whose vision is far greater than can be expected of so young a person.

Candice has gone further. She is also hosting workshops to educate the community about hygiene, sanitation and infection control. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of red tape that she has to wade through, but her eye is on the prize. There will be toilets in Alexandra!

But why is this so important to Candice? She is luckier than most of her Alex peers, who do not have a chance to further their education. This amazing young woman, raised by a single mother, attended Waverley Girls’ High School— a former model C school — where she was exposed to proper, functional and clean toilets.

She told me it was so difficult to go to school and be exposed to this world of comfort and dignity, yet back home she had to come to terms with the bareness of her life. She was

Candice’s excitement when she speaks about building toilets is palpable — as if she is relating a story about an exotic trip

embarrassed to invite her friends over, and on the few occasions that they visited it was a nightmare for her.

How do you tell a teenager whose home probably has two bathrooms, one en suite, and possibly a guest toilet, to suddenly squat on an old bucket that doesn’t flush? These things matter to little girls.

From that early age, Candice was driven and determined to initiate a radical change in her community. Her excitement when she speaks about building toilets is palpable — as if she is relating a story about some exotic trip. There is no stopping her.

Candice will probably not win awards; she may not make it to the cover of magazines. But to my mind she is the personification of heroism, selflessness and bravery.

She could teach the Cape Town poo hooligans a thing or two about constructive engagement.