When we use the toilet here, we use a nyegen, or a pit toilet. It’s a small hole in the ground which leads to a bit pit, and with all of the people using the toilet, it will eventually get full. Then what happens? Well…
It must be emptied. If the toilet is a composting one, there are two compartments, side by side, each one sealed off from the other. When one is filled, it is sealed off and the other is opened up for use. The full compartment is left to sit for a while and after a time, it is emptied and the substance is used for fertilizer. In the big cities, I have heard that some companies run a removal service, sucking the waste out with a big machine.
In my village, there are no composting nyegens. The other day, I was approaching my host family’s compound when I noticed my host brother, Isa’s head poking over the nyegen wall. Usually you do not talk to people when they are in the nyegen. They are either bathing or going to the bathroom; it is not polite. But Isa greeted me and we talked about the soccer game he’d later be playing in.
I discovered later that afternoon that he had been helping my host dad to empty their nyegen, the contents of which are currently piled up next to the compound wall. Its funny too because right now, most people are remudding their houses before rainy season gets here. I had seen the big pile earlier in the day, but I had just thought that it was mud mixed for that purpose. In fact, the pile will be sitting there for a while. When it is ready, it will be loaded up into a donkey cart and trucked out of town to the fields to use as fertilizer. Already my host dad has recemented his nyegen floor, starting the cycle over again.
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