Latrine Project

So I'll just poo in the yard yea?

My village has about 1300 people. There were about 5 latrines that I knew of in the village. I am not a health volunteer, but I saw this as a major need in my area that I could help with. Through donations from my family and friends, The St. Paul's Ladies Sodality Club, and The New Alsace Legion I was able to give my village more latrines. I combined this money with a grant I wrote through Appropriate Projects. In total I was able to build 13 latrine and pay for 2 members of my community to go to a basic health and sanitation training.

The project was amazingly simple. I think was due to the genuine need of the community for the structures. I asked each family to dig the hole for the latrine and contribute a small dollar amount to ensure their commitment to the project. The money went towards paying the mason for labor. It went really fast. All of them were built in less than 2 months time.

People from the village often came to my room to thank me, even those who did not receive a latrine in their own home! I gave priority to the elderly and households with large numbers of children. My father was able to point these out to me and went house to house with me to collect the money and explain the project.

I would write another grant if I only had time. They do not build things in the rainy season here because it is too likely for materials to be wasted. For example, cement getting wet, or a hole that was dug filling with water. I hope my replacement does a couple rounds of latrines in their two years. If they did almost my whole village would have a clean place to use the bathroom. This would decrease the amount of fecal matter in the streets, the likelihood of it getting onto the food, and hopefully raise awareness of diseases vectored through waste.

This was one of my most fulfilling projects. It went smoothly, people were grateful, and I think it can help the long-term overall health of the village. I would recommend all volunteers in similar situations to take advantage of the available grants and to voice the situation of your village across the internet. This is a cause well worth contributing to and everyone comes out on top!

There are rocks over the hole to keep out mosquitoes