a Barriers to Latrine Use Sample Clauses

a Barriers to Latrine Use. 4.2.1.a.i Fear “We don’t want him to go to the latrine, he can find someone has messed in the latrine and he can touch the feces and start playing with [them], or maybe, he can go looking through the pit hole and then fall inside.” (Village 1, Respondent 2) The most significant and most often-mentioned reason that young children do not use the latrine is fear of the latrine hole. Mothers and children alike often perceive the latrine hole to be too large for a small child to use, and consider it dangerous. Children’s fear of the hole frequently keeps them out of the latrine entirely; for those who do venture to use the latrine, fear of falling into the hole often causes them to use the latrine incorrectly and instead defecate on the floor next to the hole: “An old child knows how to get into the latrine and use it and this [younger] one may use it and at times defecate on the floor.” (Village 2, Respondent 2) For participants in the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the possibility of the child falling into the hole was considered a very real danger, and many mothers did not allow their younger children to use the latrine because they simply did not consider them old enough to be doing so safely. One mother explained how her young child narrowly avoided falling into the latrine after his foot slipped through the hole, and several mothers mentioned that they do not permit their younger children to use the latrine because they might fall into the pit. One mother had never even introduced the latrine to her four year old child because she considered the hole to be too big, and was waiting until he turned five to begin the toilet training process: “I have not told him because our toilet has a bigger drop hole. So I have not shown him.” (V1 R5)