Yay! Latrines are happening!

After months of fundraising, organizing, and preparations, we’ve actually started building latrines. It’s exciting and almost hard to believe its happening; this project was once just a thought in my head and I was so easily lost in all the steps to get to this point that I think I lost touch with the reality that one day physical construction would begin. Before I continue, I want to thank all of the generous donors, old friends, and family members, who donated to the grant needed to make this happen, and also to the Post Crescent for publishing an article to help raise awareness about the project.

As planned, we started with a little workshop to talk about the importance of hand-washing and proper hygiene techniques. Each of the families receiving a latrine attended and made a simple hand-washer that will be attached to their latrine once they are complete.

After the workshop, we ran into a bit of a challenge collecting sand. The community was responsible for the collection of the sand needed to mix with the cement for the floors of the latrines. However after discussing exactly how much sand was needed, we decided that 10 trips to the river for each person with their donkey or mule was just a few too many and that a truck was necessary. As trucks are hard to come by, we relied on the local political leader for the use of the municipality truck to lug sand from the river. We jumped through several political hoops to make this happen: passing a week working to obtain an environmental permit to take material from the river that we ended up not using because it expired before the trucks tires were fixed, then waiting another week for new tires to be put on, a few more days since the driver only wanted to work on the weekend so he could be paid extra for working on his day off…etc, etc.

Luckily, despite being down a few extra pesos and a bit behind our roughly planned schedule we had most of our sand and everyone came with their animals and wheel barrows to bring it back to their homes.  While it certainly would have been easier to have just bought the sand from the hardware store, sand was part of the community contribution – and important part of the process that intends to allow local ownership to a project funded primarily by Americans. 

Next we had the grand delivery of almost all the materials from the hardware store. Everyone showed up to unload the truck and take a look at all the goods. We are storing everything at a community member’s house – a gracious sacrifice as his living space has since been taken over by all of our tools and materials.

We spend the next week measuring out the holes that each family has to dig out for their pit. But first you have to make a cement/rock lining at the top of the latrine to ensure stability. Also, we inserted the PVC tube that acts as a vent and insect killer for the bathroom. After filling in this ring at the top everyone began the arduous task of digging down 10 feet with a diameter of just over 3 ft.

Checking out the Progress...

Diggin' Deep

Meet Mariano: The local jack of all and every trade:

While none of the housed were mounted in the first week – Mariano (local carpenter/mason/health promoter/great friend who is working for very cheap to build the latrines) finished one caseta to have a model to work from (pictured above).