Friday April 18, 2008 - we're done!

We awarded training certificates to our students today. SHIP's operations director leveraged our work by convincing Mobile Missions to construct the structure of the twin VIP. They are learning a German technology that allows bricks to be made at very little cost (76 bricks from 110# bag of cement) and laid with very little mortar. They used our latrine site as a training site, so we gave them a donation for helping us out. They were close to finished when we left. It has been a great experience as always. The students were very grateful and anxious to help make Zambia a better place.

One done, one to go

This is a picture of  the nearly completed arborloo. This is overkill on the materials I will admit, because it is intended to be made from the cheapest of materials (like bamboo walls). When an arborloo fills up, you simply move it to a new pit and plant a fruit tree where the old pit was. Since this is a demo latrine, we have invited the community to use this, so it might get moved every few weeks. The vision is for a row of fruit trees. Jerry was able to line up a team from Mobile Missions to construct the structure of the twin VIP from hydroformed bricks - completed picture tomorrow I hope.

2nd day 2nd week of training in Mapalo

We have essentially finished the construction of the Arborloo latrine which is ready to use and the pit for the twin VIP today. We have to wait one more day for the slab to cure on the twin VIP, so tomorrow will be dedicated to refreshing everyone on design, latrine types, promotion, etc. The picture is a little sad - the girl on the left is 5 yrs old and hauled that baby around all day long.

Zambia Sanitation 1 week gone by

The first week went by incredibly fast, but it was good to get a rest this weekend. You haven't lived until you worship Yehway (God) in an African church. I made a couple short videos, but they don't begin to do it justice. The picture shows our students, who we've been training in between construction steps, working on the slab for the twin VIP. It is going to be REALLY interesting trying to move about a ton of concrete on Thursday after the cement has cured.

Starting the Twin VIP

4/9/08: We started construction of the Twin Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine. It is designed for composting, so there must be access for someone to climb down into the pit after it has composted. We spent the day digging a pit, preparing a site to pour the slab, and determining how many concrete blocks we would need. It was a slower process than the engineer in me would like, but they are definitely starting to understand the process.

Sanitation training day 2 in Zambia .

4/8/08 : On Monday we made a form for a latrine plat, but it POURED rain. Add to that the daily electric power outages of 4-6 hours and the unbelievable cost of living, and it becomes challenging. I don't know how people afford to eat. Diesel, which is cheaper than gasoline by a fair amount, is $7.77/gallon. On Tuesday , we poured the cement for the latrine slab and trained for construction of a twin VIP latrine that we will construct in Mapalo. No rain today fortunately. The people here are inspiring. Some were really excited to learn that sanitation has the most impact of the WASH elements.

Zambia sanitation training - day 1

April 7, It has been a good day. We met our students - 17 of them - and some were familiar faces from the July training. Many were representatives of their respective compounds - Nkwazi, Mapalo, MacKenzie, and George. We were trying to pour a latrine slab for the arborloo that we will set up at the construction site in Mapalo when the skies opened up. We had a change of plans, of course, and began teaching disease paths and blocking and other of the sanitation latrine theory. We plan to pour a slab tomorrow and go into more theory. If you think prices have gone up in the USA, you wouldn't believe how much things cost here now. 80,000 kwacha ($22.41) for a 50KG (110lb) bag of cement. Diesel costs 7,300 kwacha/litre ($7.77/gal) and I have to wonder how the common family can afford to eat. We're enjoying the experience and the people are great! blessings, Lon