Tenaw Merkebu Alamirew grew up in Margechina Borebore area, Shebel Berenta Woreda, East Gojam, Ethiopia. After completing grade 10 without passing the national examination, he began working as a daily labourer in construction. When health professionals engaged by iDE — International Development Enterprises, a Max Foundation partner — came to the area looking for someone to produce model toilet slabs, his construction background made him the right person. “With the help of the health extension workers, I came here and started working on building toilet slabs. My job now is to build the toilet slabs and make them accessible to the community,” he said.
The slabs Tenaw produces are designed to be removable. When a pit fills and collapses — a common reason households in the area revert to open defecation — the slab can be detached and fitted to a new pit rather than discarded, saving both money and labour. He visits communities to explain how the system works and demonstrate the product. “Having a clean toilet is a matter of self-respect. So I want the whole community to be motivated and work to get this done,” he said.
The commercial dimension matters to him as much as the sanitation one. He is married and has a two-year-old son. “I want to have many customers and I want to change my life. First, I want to help my family. Second, I want to be able to send my child to school and support my wife,” he said.
He and his wife share household work equally — there is no division of labour at home — and she followed health professional guidance throughout her pregnancy, eating a varied diet.
Shebel Berenta Woreda is one of Ethiopia’s largest producers of teff, but the woreda relies entirely on natural rainfall with no irrigation. Only teff and peas are grown; vegetables are not produced locally. One borehole serves 400 to 500 people in Tenaw’s area, and when it falls short, residents draw from shallow wells. The diet across the woreda is narrow: shiro at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “If there was access to water in our area, there would be fruits and vegetables, and the pregnant women could eat from their backyard,” Tenaw said.
He is direct about the connection between sanitation and child health. “Infectious diseases often occur in children — diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Those babies are not infected for no reason. It is because of poor sanitation,” he said. His wish for the woreda covers both problems: a toilet in every neighbourhood and irrigation ponds so that the fertile but dry land can produce food year-round.