Weight of tradition: Why Turkana people prefer using open bush toilets to latrines

Residents in the arid Turkana County are exposed to high risks of water borne diseases as majority of the population prefer relieving themselves in bushes. The situation has been compounded by customs and traditions, which the residents are still attached to, thus continually making them susceptible to diarrhea and cholera.

Among the Turkana community, it is abominable for a daughter in-law to share a latrine with her father-in-law forcing either party use the bush in relieving themselves. A walk along the shrub filled footpaths under scotching heat on the River Turkwell banks and other seasonal rivers is greeted with a reeking whiff of human waste, a scenario replicated almost in all the villages. The region is sandy and rocky making it hard for the locals to construct pit latrines.