Latrines, A Field Trip

A couple of years ago we began a project to put latrines in the villages of the students in the Health Promoter School. Most of the Ngobe villages are very primitive and sanitation is a major issue. We wanted to provide the households with simple toilet facilities. Rhett helped us make arrangements and select the families. We supply the basic materials for the construction, support posts, corrugated tin for the roof, rebar and sand, a plastic bucket that can be fashioned into a seat and the concrete for the floor. The family must dig the pit and do the actual construction work. Paula, the coordinator of the Comprehensive Community Health Program of the Methodist Church, takes applications from the communities, and everyone wants latrines. Once chosen a
government engineer goes and chooses a location for the latrine and materials are purchased, delivered and work begins. To date we have helped install 43 latrines, allowing the people to keep human waste under control and avoid polluting the ground water. The project has been funded by some of the churches and individuals from the mission teams.

We took the bus out to Cienaguita to unload equipment and supplies, then went on to a dirt road leading to
Karina's home. She is one of the health promoters. The road continued as a steep track, impassable by bus, so we set out on foot to go to a village where two latrines had been installed. The walk took us down, then up some very steep hills. We turned off into the village where the people were preparing for a wedding that afternoon. They led us down a steeper valley, across a small stream and up to the place where we saw the latrines. It was great to see how much care the people had taken with construction of these “essential facilities”.

It costs about $70 to construct one of these latrines. The nproject supplies the raw materials, posts and roofing tin. We also pay for the mason to install the concrete floor. Walls are up top the family and are constructed of materials of their choice. Currently there are requests for at least ten more from the villages of the Health Promoters. We can make a real difference if we can find ways like this to improve people's lives.

On the way back over the hills to the bus we took advantage of rides via horseback and truck. It was a long day, but we learned a lot about the people we will meet at the clinic tomorrow. we expect to be busy all week, but are glad we had the chance to see the village life and learn about the latrine project.