The current Child Sanitation Diplomat, Maame Akua Ohenewaa Gyimah, a Junior High School (JHS) One pupil, has appealed to stakeholders in the sanitation space to expand the Children Sanitation Fair.
Delivering a solidarity message on behalf of Ghanaian children at the 33rd edition of the Mole XXXIII Wash Conference, she said the Sanitation Fair and School Sanitation Solutions Challenge initiative seeks to educate, advocate and entertain hundreds of children who seek to empower the next generation to co-create sustainable solutions to Ghana’s environmental sanitation challenges.
Maame Akua Ohenewaa Gyimah won the 2022 maiden edition of the Child Sanitation Diplomat, an initiative organised by Zoomlion Foundation, Worldvision and Kings Hall Media, with the support of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR).
This year’s Mole conference held at the Elmina Beach Resort-Elmina in the Central Region on Monday, 31st October, 2022, was on the theme: “Connecting Systems To Bridge Service Delivery Gaps.”
According to Ms. Ohenewaa Gyimah, her plea stems from the fact that Ghanaian children have not adequately involved in finding sustainable solutions to sanitation challenges.
“We, therefore, encourage all stakeholders to support and expand the Children’s Sanitation Fair, the School Sanitation Solutions Challenge, and the Child Sanitation Diplomat initiative,” she urged.
She indicated that the sanitation fair and school sanitation solutions would help raise sanitation awareness amongst children and future generations.
“Adapt these concepts at the local level so that more children would be involved and also do not think that it is out of place to create a session for children in all subsequent Mole WASH Conferences, even just a session for the children around the conference venue can make an impact,” she noted.
Ms. Ohenewaa Gyimah also seized the opportunity to appeal for a modern toilet facility to be built in her school.
“I am making this passionate appeal because my school is part of a cluster of schools which has over 4,000 pupils, and sharing an old and dilapidated toilet facility with less than ten seats,” she bemoaned.
Additionally, she added that the facility has also been taken over by the community.
This situation, she said, compels some of the school children to defecate and urinate at unapproved places.
“I am, therefore, pleading with participants here, and whoever is hearing me, to come to our aid else it will be difficult for me to talk about others elsewhere,” she pleaded.
