More than a billion people worldwide live on dirt floors, including three out of every four Rwandans. Dirt floors are known to harbour parasites and bacteria which can cause serious conditions, including diarrhoea, parasitic infections, respiratory illness, anaemia, immunodeficiency and malnutrition. Young children are particularly at risk but alternatives, such as concrete floors, are often too expensive.
EarthEnable is a US-based organisation that was founded by a group of students from Stanford University. In 2014, it set up EarthEnable Rwanda with the aim of improving the health of low-income families by replacing dirt floors with affordable earthen floors. These floors are laid by trained masons and have a durable, waterproof surface which can be washed to remove dirt and dust. In addition to improved health, earthen floors offer socio-economic benefits as fewer work and school days are missed through illness, increasing household income and educational outcomes for children.
Earthen floors have so far been installed in more than 2,300 homes in Rwanda and around 100 in neighbouring Uganda. At around USD$3 per square metre, the floors are more affordable than concrete and also more environmentally friendly. EarthEnable hopes to encourage a competitive market that builds on its work and uses profits from the enterprise to fund expansion into new countries so more people can experience the life-changing benefits of an earthen floor.
