Latrines in Motion

Participating families met in mid January regarding the pending latrine project, soon after I had returned from my trip to the United States. The original plan was that families would dig the pit and go down to the river for the gravel during January in order to be ready to start construction in early February, so that all work would be done by the time school starts on February 27. The $5 deposit was also due before materials were to be delivered.

However, during the meeting, most people admitted that they hadn’t started their prep work. “We thought you had left for good.” “We weren’t sure if the project was really coming.” “I wasn’t sure if my family was really going to be included.”

I was frustrated with the lack of progress while I was gone, but I have lived in Comarca long enough to realize how common it is for outsiders – politicians, missionaries, general do-gooders - to make promises and not keep them. I reassured them that yes, the money to buy the materials was sitting in the bank waiting, and that we only needed to choose a date when everyone could be ready for the materials to be delivered. When everyone made the connection that they needed to do their prep work before the materials could be delivered, they all quickly agreed that they could do everything in 10 days so that the materials could be delivered on February 4.

Hauling gravel up in sacks from the river, about 45 min down from my house.

On February 1, I walked around to every participating house with project leaders for the official inspection: to measure the pits and to see the pile of gravel. I was proud and impressed to see that all except for 1 family was ready. Unfortunately, that same week the roads were closed due to the protests so we had to delay material delivery for another week.

Materials arrived! Rolling up the roofing material to haul away.

On Saturday, February 11, materials were delivered in a big truck. The next day, all participating families met at my house to practice building the latrine concrete pad at my 2 neighbors’ houses. For the rest of the week the participants broke up into 2 works groups and built 2 or 3 latrines every day until they were done. I visited the work groups to give advice and help out, but after the first day they were self sufficient.

Construction in a nutshell:

Cover the hole with strong trees, covered by bamboo or old metal and cardboard. Leave a hole for the toilet seat.

Create a form of 140 cm x 140 cm around the hole using wood boards, poles, or even beer crates.

Arrange re-bar and tie it, add handles.

Make cement mix (1 sack with 9 buckets of gravel) and fill the form up to about 10 cm in depth.

Cover and spray with a little water every day for a week, then glue on the toilet seat and built a house around the latrine pad.

Overall, the project was a success because it required a huge amount of community contribution from start to finish. Besides improving family health, a major goal of the project was to teach community members how easy it is to build a latrine, and that they are capable to do it themselves in the future. Most project participants had never mixed cement or cut rebar before, and now they are comfortable with these skills. We are currently planning an inauguration ceremony to celebrate the new latrines with food and certificates.