During a humanitarian response, construction of sanitation facilities in communities is biased to the so called “normal people assisted”. Proposed designs promote latrines that require squatting. Unfortunately, these are often not suitable for people who have difficulties in squatting and balancing. Thubelihle Ncube from village 4 Bubi district was assisted with a disability friendly latrine by the ZZJR project. He was selected by the community members to be assisted with user friendly latrine. Sanitation is one of the services that is often inaccessible for people with physical disabilities.

Caritas Zimbabwe is the official Catholic agency for humanitarian and development work in Zimbabwe. It is officially registered as a Private Voluntary Organization in terms of subsection (5) of section 9 of the Private Voluntary Organization Act (17:05) in the Republic of Zimbabwe. The organisation was established in 1972 as a development initiative and also responding to the emergency situation that prevailed in the country at the time that a liberation war was being fought.

95% of Nkayi populace still practice open defecation. This is attributed to the norms and values propagated by the community members. People don’t see value of having a latrine in their households. “Open defecation has been our culture; our forefathers used the bush as a place of relieving themselves. No one complained about the diseases.”    The coming in of the ZZJR project ignited community interest in ending open defecation.