Latrines for Christmas

Making 10 latrines was clearly not enough for the 28 families here without a bathroom. I applied for a Peace Corps Partnership grant to make at least 13 more. Its finally up on the Peace Corps website with a link so anyone can donate for the project.

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-471

The project needs 3000 USD total. This will be enough to make at least 13. I do have some materials left over from the first 10, so this may be able to stretch to 14 or 15. That’s 13-15 families that have never had access to a bathroom of any sort. My community members use the sugar cane fields and the hills around the community to defecate. They have been doing this for generations. Not only does this habit affect their health, but it is also detrimental for the entire community. Feces contaminate water sources and are a serious health threat. If cholera reaches our providence, without latrines the community will not be able to avoid a devastating outbreak.

It is my Christmas wish this year that, those of you who can, make a charitable contribution to the latrine project. All donations are 100% tax deductible, and the donations can be anonymous or attached with a name notifying me who the gift was from.

I made a short PowerPoint presentation about the project, with lots of photos, that I will send to potential donors. Please leave your email address below in the yellow comments section, or email me at davidsonalyson@gmail.com and I will send it to you. My mom presented it to her school’s Key Club in order to earn donations; and, I think it is helpful and informative for anyone considering donating to the project as it discusses my community, what latrines are, and how they work.

Please consider making a charitable donation to this very worthy mission.

Happy Holidays!

Homemade faucets

While my mom was here we taught the women in my Healthy Homes group how to make homemade hand-washing stations with easy to find recycled materials. In Spanish they are called “llaves caseros” which translates more directly to homemade water faucets.

Hand washing is a habit that is not at all commonly practiced, thus the need for health volunteers to at least try to confront this in their communities. After I received a very gracious gift of nice soaps from Dr. Duffy and his wonderful office I decided it was the perfect time to make the hand washing stations that we learned about in training. The women were absolutely ecstatic about the soap, especially when I told the group it was from a dermatologist in the states.

The model is very simple. You need a large plastic soda bottle, string, soap and water. Since we had the mini soaps, my mom and I creatively decided to cut up a couple of shower loofas and tie them on the bottles with the soaps inside. This allows an easy way to lather up and it lets the soap dry in the air instead of sitting on a wet tray.

I was surprised, as usual, how something so simple can make these women so excited. Seeing them wash their hands on a more regular basis now is definitely a nice payoff too. Their only complaint is that they need to refill the bottle with water too often since their kids wash their hands too much.

Latrine photos

One of the latrine recipients


Putting rocks around the hole to make a sturdy base for the floor to rest on





Putting the cement on the floor


Adding the final touches, sturdy and durable corrugated metal sheets