In the rural village of Effumani, in the province of Est-Mono, Togo, 15 year old Gentil Weleke was attending the only primary school close to home. Every morning, Gentil would collect water from a distant river, then sweep the courtyard and inside her hut. Afterwards she would put a limited amount of that red-coloured water in a recycled plastic bottle to take to school. She would arrive late, but she still had to clean the teacher’s office. Three times a week, she would also have to collect water from a river 2 kilometres away and return to class after lessons had already started. On weekends, lest she be punished, she and her girlfriends would collect water for her class and clean the headmaster’s office; meanwhile her brother would play soccer.

How Gentil used to spend her days reflects some general statistics of Togo, and the province of Est-Mono in particular. In Est-Mono, one of the ten thirstiest zones of Togo,only 10 per cent of the population has access to potable water, in comparison to the national average of 51 per cent. While five per cent of Togolese have drinking water piped into their home, 27 per cent get water from unprotected wells and 19 per cent from rivers. Only two per cent of the population of Est-Mono has access to sanitation at home. Men usually use nearby forests for sanitation, whereas women walk to distant farms.