Open Defecation swallows Adumasa as residents avoid dilapidated public toilet.

It’s an eyesore in the Adumasa Community in the Atwima Nwabeagya Municipality of Ashanti Region where residents are compelled to use the bushes or attend to the call of nature in opaque polythene bags.

A hand-dug toilet facility built for the women, through communal labour is nothing less than a health hazard.

Offensive stench literally dagger’s at you meters away from this facility.

Women of the town dread the dangers this poses to their health.

The stench is unbearable. We do it in poly-bags and drop them there. Our chickens sometimes bring the debris home. We don’t even have the appetite to eat. We and our children can get sick if we don’t get help,” a woman intimated.

“We fear for our children who might eat with contaminated hands after visiting the toilet. For adult women like us, we fear the heat will leave us with other diseases,” a mother lamented.

The men use another eyesore of a toilet facility down a steep hill; an area full of reptiles.

Faecal matter and piles of black polythene bags containing the obvious, is a common sight, as residents who cannot brave the nuisance have resorted to open defecation.

A clearly disgusted elderly male of Adumasa fumed: “Look how nasty this place is. The scent gives you away when you use the toilet. It is overflowing.”

When I come here I lose my appetite so I choose to defecate in my farm. They never come to our aid after they come here to campaign,”

The problems of the cocoa growing community is compounded by water challenges as the over 700 dwellers rely on a single borehole.

The residents who spoke to reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, recounted how it turns into the survival of the fittest at dawn and evening when demand is at its peak.

“Water is scarce. My daughter in final year was late for school today after queuing at the borehole for hours. They sometimes have to fight to get a turn to fetch,”

Akwamu Chief of Adumasa Nana Kwadwo Donkor told Ultimate News, it has been difficult levying the indigenes as the cocoa season is not due.

He admitted: “The town has increased in population but they all depend on one borehole. People fight for water every day.

Appealing for support, Nana Donkor beckoned: “The toilet situation is embarrassing and unhealthy. I will be glad if we had a properly built public toilet for this community

Sustainable Development Goals 6 has its target that all people have access to potable water

It aims to stop open defecation by ensuring that homes have access to decent toilet facilities.

The urgency with which these residents need state support to fix their water and toilet challenges cannot be overemphasized.

Without this, any outbreak of diseases will be dire.

Ivan Heathcote - Fumador