Amalooloo: private company donates 21 toilets to rural Eastern Cape school

It has been quite the eventful week for Ntshingeni Senior Primary, a school near Queenstown, Eastern Cape. After years of accommodating students without proper lavatories, has become the recipient of 21 toilets, thanks to Amalooloo.

What is Amalooloo all about?

Amalooloo is a subsidiary of Betram, a company that designs and develops holistic, sustainable and ecologically friendly sanitation solutions. The company prides itself on being at the forefront of solving sanitation problems in urban and rural areas.

Seka Mopeli, the Amalooloo coordinator, stated that the donation was planned after he saw a GroundUp article on the school, in May, that he passed on to his seniors, who agreed to help.

The donation that relieved the school

According to Mopeli, the donation consists of seven toilets for girls, seven for boys, three for female teachers and two for male teachers. Two additional toilets are planned for construction on the sports grounds.

He said: “I came to the school to check the condition myself. I was very sad when I saw the [pupils] in the bushes relieving themselves. I also went to check the old toilets… they were so full… and built far from school premises.”

Nokuphumla Sithetha-Dywili, a member of the School Governing Body, expressed her gratitude to Amalooloo, sharing that teachers and pupils will now be safe in using proper toilets.

The school principal, Malixole Dliso, also professed gratitude and how happy the donation has made the school. His general sentiment was that the school could finally uphold some dignity with the newly-installed toilets.

Speaking on the hard road leading up to the much-needed transformation, the principal also added that:

“We have been crying for so many years about these old toilets, but our cry was falling on deaf ears. It was when the story was published when we saw a reaction.”