# Where Do You Go When You Gotta Go? | Dr. Marakie Tesfaye | TEDxLogan Circle

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us6fe5h1JBQ
Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/Us6fe5h1JBQ
Generated: 2025-11-11T00:39:05.082+00:00

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## Quick Overview

Dr. Marakie Tesfaye argues that access to safe, private, and dignified sanitation facilities, particularly toilets, is not just a technical issue but a fundamental matter of human rights, safety, autonomy, and gender equality, directly impacting girls' education and their future potential.

**Key Points:**
- Globally, 1 in 3 people lack access to basic sanitation, costing women 98 billion hours annually due to lack of access to toilets.
- The lack of a toilet determines a girl's future safety, autonomy, and gender power dynamics, as she may be forced to miss up to 100 days of school per year due to menstruation.
- Dr. Tesfaye launched a social impact business called 'Jegnit' (meaning brave woman) to advocate for the removal of tax on feminine hygiene products.
- Her research revealed that girls in Ethiopia often avoided drinking water at school to delay using unsanitary toilets, leading to dehydration and health issues like UTIs and kidney disease.
- The speaker asserts that poor sanitation is a political issue, not merely a plumbing problem, and that silence perpetuates this injustice.
- She advocates for systemic change, emphasizing that merely building toilets is insufficient; the focus must shift to dignity, voice, presence, access, and power.

![Screenshot at 00:15: Dr. Marakie Tesfaye on stage at TEDxLogan Circle, dressed in traditional white Ethiopian attire, beginning her talk about the critical issue of sanitation access.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-00-15.png)

**Context:** Dr. Marakie Tesfaye delivers a TEDx talk titled "Where Do You Go When You Gotta Go?" at TEDxLogan Circle, sharing her personal journey from growing up in Ethiopia with a comfortable but unluxurious life to realizing the global crisis of inadequate sanitation. She uses her experience and research to highlight how the lack of proper toilet access disproportionately affects women and girls, linking it directly to issues of human rights, education, and empowerment.

## Detailed Analysis

Dr. Marakie Tesfaye discusses the global sanitation crisis, emphasizing that the lack of proper toilet access affects one in three people worldwide, costing women 98 billion hours annually. She recounts her childhood in Ethiopia, where, despite not having a luxurious life, she never considered the lack of water access a major issue until moving to the US. Upon returning to Ethiopia in her early 20s, she realized the severity of the problem: girls avoided drinking water at school to delay using unsafe toilets, leading to health crises like UTIs and kidney disease. She highlights that for women, the absence of a toilet determines their future safety, autonomy, and power dynamics, often resulting in girls missing up to 100 days of school per year due to menstruation. Tesfaye founded the social impact business 'Jegnit' (meaning brave woman) to advocate for systemic change, including removing taxes on feminine hygiene products. She concludes that sanitation is a political issue, not just a plumbing one, and that liberation requires addressing the dignity, voice, presence, access, and power inherent in having a safe place to relieve oneself.

### Personal Context and Realization

- Growing up in Ethiopia with a relatively comfortable life
- Moving back in her early 20s revealed the stark reality of lacking basic necessities like accessible toilets
- Realization that lack of sanitation access was not a luxury issue but a systemic problem.

### Impact on Girls and Women

- Lack of toilet access leads to dehydration as girls skip drinking water at school
- This results in severe health issues like UTIs and kidney disease
- Lack of sanitation impacts a girl's future, autonomy, and participation in education (missing up to 100 days/year during menstruation).

### Advocacy and Action

- Launched the social impact business 'Jegnit' (Brave Woman) to challenge the status quo
- Advocated for removing taxes on sanitary pads
- Conducted phenomenological exploration of women's lived experiences regarding toilets.

### The Core Message

- Sanitation is a political issue, not just a technical one involving pipes and plumbing
- True change requires addressing dignity, voice, presence, access, and power, not just infrastructure.

![Screenshot at 00:04: The opening graphic featuring the 'ReThink Courage' theme associated with the TEDx Logan Circle event.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-00-04.png)
![Screenshot at 00:15: Dr. Marakie Tesfaye standing on stage in traditional white Ethiopian attire before beginning her presentation.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-00-15.png)
![Screenshot at 00:30: Close-up of Dr. Tesfaye speaking passionately about her early life experiences regarding water access.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-00-30.png)
![Screenshot at 00:48: Dr. Tesfaye gesturing while describing the global statistics concerning lack of access to basic sanitation.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-00-48.png)
![Screenshot at 01:01: Speaker emphasizing the link between lack of sanitation and basic human rights, mentioning access to schools and markets.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-01-01.png)
![Screenshot at 01:33: Dr. Tesfaye detailing the severe health consequences, such as UTIs and kidney disease, resulting from girls avoiding school bathrooms.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-01-33.png)
![Screenshot at 02:29: Dr. Tesfaye announcing the launch of her social impact business, 'Jegnit' \(Brave Woman\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-02-29.png)
![Screenshot at 03:37: Speaker explaining the importance of systemic change beyond just infrastructure, emphasizing dignity and autonomy.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-03-37.png)
![Screenshot at 04:43: Dr. Tesfaye citing UNESCO data linking lack of sanitation to girls dropping out of school.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-04-43.png)
![Screenshot at 07:56: Dr. Tesfaye challenging the audience to imagine a world where every girl has access to clean water and sanitation.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/Us6fe5h1JBQ/00-07-56.png)