A pensioner from Olunkavu Village in the Omusati Region is grateful to the government for building a pit latrine at her homestead.

Going outside the house at night is not safe for the elderly. Ebba Katumwa says it has been particularly difficult for her husband, who is unable to walk, and she is left with the responsibility to also take care of him.

Katumwa made these remarks in an interview with nbc News.

The government continues to extend sanitation to rural areas through the provision of pit latrines to less privileged communities and poor households.

13 pit latrines are earmarked for the Ogongo Constituency this financial year.

The toilets are being constructed in partnership with the Ministries of Health and Urban and Rural Development.

The government has been making more efforts to ensure that sanitation provision for communities is improved to end open defecation.

The toilets are for the elderly and people with disabilities.

"I am overjoyed that a toilet is being built at our homestead because my husband is old and no longer able to walk to the bush when nature calls. So when the toilet is complete, it will be easier for him to use it because it is closer. I want to tell the contractor to fasten the construction process so that we can start using our toilet right away."

Ogongo Constituency Office came up with community-led total sanitation, which was introduced last year, to kick off with the construction of 13 toilets this financial year with a budget of N$234,000.

N$180,000 has been budgeted for 10 sets of toilets in the next financial year.

Each toilet will cost the government N$18,000.

Councillor of Ogongo Constituency, Daniel Iilende, says, "The challenge that we have is that now some of our community members who are financially able are now also waiting for the government to come and set up toilets for them instead of them also standing up for themselves and doing this pit latrines for themselves or flushable toilets even, and we want to now move away from pit latrines so that we can also set up flushable toilets, at least our communities should also meet our government half way."

Iilende says improved sanitation is done concurrently with the provision of potable water in some villages.

"As of now, we are busy expanding water pipelines between Iipanda, Onakathe, as well as Onautoni and Oshikweyo, so the government is spending much money on this pipeline so that people from these villages can also have access to clean water. The reason why the government is not doing flushable toilets is because we still have houses that do not have water yet."

There will also be a three-month training in tailoring for women targeting 180 households to start their own businesses.