Public urination threatens secondary school Estrela Vermelha in Maputo

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Public urination threatens secondary school Estrela Vermelha in Maputo

1:11 CAT | 31 Mar 2016

Notícias / This is the wall that is giving away due to the accumulation of human waste in the Estrela Vermelha Secondary School.

“Satisfaction of minor needs” is the expression used in Mozambique to replace the less elegant ‘urinate’. Notícias on Wednesday reports that “minor needs are being satisfied against the outdoor wall of the Estrela Vermelha Secondary School in central Maputo to the extent that it is giving away and needs to be replaced.

School director Gilberto dos Reis says the situation is placing an unforeseen financial burden on the school, over and above the bad atmosphere prevailing in a space supposed to encourage learning.

Just before the start of this school year, the board of the Estrela Vermelha Secondary had to find extra funding to pay for the repair works to fill the gaps open by the collapse of the wall and keep the facilities secured.

“The action of the urine has forced us to replace nearly 50 metres of wall. People visiting Estrela Vermelha market, especially those who sell outside the market, do not use the market’s toilets. Instead, they use the school wall to meet their minor and even major needs, even in broad daylight,” he said.

Dos Reis said the stench is disturbing students, especially on cleaning days. Students refuse to clean up human waste and garbage that has nothing to do with their school. “We warned the municipality and called the head of the market to bring the situation to his attention, but nothing came of it, so this is how we live,” he complains.

By day the market vendors create problems for the school, and by night the Mafalala neighbourhood and homeless people who use the school as a hostel take over.

“Since 2014, we’ve had two homeless people dying on the school grounds. When this happens the responsibility of removing the body is entirely ours, apart from all the harm it does to the children, especially when there is delay in removing of body. They like to watch, and we are forced to station a guard slapping them. Beyond the psychological side of things, a morbid atmosphere settles on the students,” he said.

The school infrastructure is vast and underutilized, but the headmaster says that for one part of the school that has long ceased to be used, there is light in the end of the tunnel, with a partnership signed with an entity to undertake its rehabilitation and reuse.

“I believe that, with the pool open again, our partners will employ their own guards to deter vagrants,” dos Reis says.

In the meantime, while some repair cars, others will go on peeing in the street, against the wall of the Estrela Vermelha Secondary School with all the consequent risks, in a space disputed by sellers, buyers and repairers.

Source: Notícias