Toilets, showers and biogas for cooking are the key ingredients of Uganda’s first bio-center, which was inaugurated on January 1st. June 6, 2023.
In the densely packed slum of Kinawataka, you have to watch your step as you move through the labyrinthine alleyways. The narrow streets between houses often act as open sewers – right where children play.
“It causes dysentery and diarrhea when children play barefoot in the middle of it. Therefore, I am very excited that we can open the doors to the Bio-centre and help improve the health of the neighborhood,” says Anton Ryslinge, CEO of Architects Without Borders Denmark (AWB)
Since 2017, he has been working with the National Slum Dweller’s Federation of Uganda on the project, which is now becoming a reality. A bio-centre with five toilets, four showers, a biogas plant, a kiosk and a rooftop urban garden is now complete. The project draws on experience from Kenya, where there are around 50 such bio-centres in the capital Nairobi alone.
“We know from Kenya that a bio-centre can reduce the number of children dying from diarrhea and dysentery. With our initiative in the slums of Kampala, we hope that we can also help save lives. At the same time, a shower in a clean, decent and tiled environment can give dignity to poor slum dwellers, who are a stigmatized group simply because of their housing conditions,” says Anton Ryslinge. He has been the coordinator of the project throughout and is attending the inauguration of the center:
“It’s been a long journey with our Ugandan partners and I’m extremely relieved that we’ve reached this point,” he says of the project, which will benefit up to 500 children and adults.
Green roof and meeting place
The building, with toilets, showers and a small kiosk at ground level, stands on a foundation built over a large circular underground collection tank where the feces is collected and where a clean, combustible biogas is naturally generated. Through pipes, the biogas is distributed to three small dwellings on the first floor of the building. Here, the gas can be used directly for cooking and replace charcoal, which causes serious indoor air pollution and increases deforestation.
On the roof of the building, there will be an urban farming learning space, that will serve as both a meeting place and an inspiration for neighborhood residents who want to grow food at home. Landscape architect Louise Helmbo Bækgaard has been instrumental in this part of the Bio-centre. She wrote her thesis in collaboration with AWB and was therefore involved in designing the building’s green roof:
“There is a lack of space in the dense slum and no land to cultivate. So if you’re going to grow vegetables, it’s a good idea to do it on rooftops,” says Louise, who is currently a volunteer with AWB.
Ready for the next step
As well as creating a bio-centre, the project has also created local employment, for example jobs for local masons, carpenters, blacksmiths and laborers who have been involved in the construction. When the centre opens, it will be run by a cooperative that will earn money for its operation and maintenance by selling clean drinking water, renting out the three rooms, selling gas for their stoves and charging a small fee for showers and toilets.
“Over the years, we have developed a very trusting cooperation with the residents themselves, the slum dwellers’ own organization and the municipality. And I really feel that we have come quite far – and can go very far together,” says Anton Ryslinge.
Read more about the project here.
