Sanitation project in Upper Egypt empowers children to protect their environment
Admired by her peers at the Tawayel El-Sharqiyya School, Fatima, 10, is a natural leader. When Fatima speaks out about the urgent need to begin protecting the environment, the other students listen. She hopes they will also follow her example.
“I have learned a lot about how to keep the environment safe at school,” Fatima said. “Now, whenever I meet a child who doesn’t take care of the environment, I feel sorry for him, and I try and tell him ways to change his habits.”
Fatima’s commitment to improving environmental awareness in her school and village stems in part from the efforts of UNICEF’s School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) project, which was launched last year. Hers was one of the 373 primary schools in the Assiut, Sohag and Qena governorates reached by the SSHE project.
The project’s positive impact on the close-knit communities of the Upper Egyptian villages and towns has been manifold.
