Ethiopia:   An emerging economy  October, 2013

Bajaj's are replacing horse-drawn taxis

   I was delighted to return to Ethiopia to teach sanitation promotion and construction.   This time we were teaching in Hawassa, in the Great Rift Valley about 270 km south of the capital city of Addis Ababa.   It was so good to see large buildings under construction, active commerce and concrete roads.  In the evenings, we visited some new resorts along the shore of Lake Awasa and had some great meals.

Many of our students were from the Oromia region that may very well be the most primitive part of the country.   All were well educated and were either government  employees, teachers, school masters, or Mekane Yesus (Place of Jesus) church employees. About five were Muslim and the rest Christian.  Another team was teaching  a different Lifewater curriculum to a group of students about as large as ours. 

San-Plats are placed over larger slabs of available material

We elected to teach  "San-Plats" (sanitary platforms) rather than full slabs, because we were getting feedback that the Oromia region is too poor for families to afford to build a full slab.      Most published material for San-Plats indicates that rebar is not needed. My experience is that it is not true, so I advocate use of a small piece of rebar to avoid breakage.   Also, use of banana leaves rather than oiling the sides of the forms reduces cost.    We calculated that we built them for about $8 each.

Notice the prominent mound 

For our teachback, we went to a location in the mountains south of the city.   Our students constructed a complete latrine while we watched.  They placed the San-Plat on a larger slab of wood that the locals were certain would not be attacked by termites. One of the most common mistakes in constructing a latrine is to omit the mound.    By elevating the latrine above ground level, you reduce the chances of flood water from filling the latrine which allows the contents to overflow onto the surrounding area and spread disease. By keeping the ground near the slab dry, the mound also helps to the pit lining's role of preventing the pit from collapsing. 

I think another "God thing" happened on this trip, but all of us will have to wait for the next trip or two to see if it was.  

School Latrines & difficult issues in Tanzania May, 2013

   Isaiah 6:8 says:  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"  And I said, "Here am I.  Send me. "   I continue to ask God to use me in ways that I did not expect.  He must like that prayer because He continues to answer it as He did with this trip.   It started in an unusual manner.   Someone obtained my contact information through the retired director of Lifewater International.    The goal was to teach sanitation to a secular, for-profit NGO based in Mwasa. That NGO would then construct school latrines with money from Europe.    Although uncomfortable with a number of issues, I agreed to go in view of potential impact.

Then it got even more uncomfortable.   The person who arranged the trip called me to say that his wife had just been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, so he could no longer go.   After a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to continue with the project.    Another person with no prior WASH training had already agreed to go and had been fund raising.   I contacted a secular organization called IHSAN (see the link -- they are reinventing themselves to be known as "Sanitation for All") to see if they would be willing to sponsor the trip.  They not only  agreed but also asked if they could have someone from their organization participate in the trip.  What an amazing addition he was! He had an engineering degree from one of the top schools in India and a masters degree from a school in the USA.   Further,  he had personal experience with a poor WASH environment and a great heart for helping the poor while on vacation from his paying job.

Teaching "disease paths" module with "participatory training"

WASH in Schools - Zambia 2013

WASH in schools is probably Lifewater's best curriculum, because  (repeating one of my first entries) it epitomizes the saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;  show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."   In it we provide school teachers with a curriculum and training to teach WASH to children who will teach their siblings, parents and eventually their own children.    I was the team leader (having been to Ndola three times before) and three wonderful ladies did most of the teaching.
 We were scheduled to leave on Feb 8th, but winter storm Nemo was expected to be right over New York about the time we were supposed to change planes there.   Seeing the weather warnings, I called the travel agent who booked all but a couple of my trips -- Laurie at www.shupingtravel.com.  She bailed me and others out in the past and did it again.   She apparently called in some favors, because we were able to reschedule to the exact same schedule one week later as the team requested.

 We arrived in Ndola somewhat drained but in good spirits.  Once again our partner was Seeds of Hope International Partnerships (SoHIP).   We were a little concerned to learn that there would be just four students. Our primary contact was Gladys who had been one of our star students in 2009.   She promised to take care of it and started making phone calls.  We found ourselves visiting head masters of schools in the area.   They welcomed us and heaped praise on SoHIP.  One mentioned that SoHIP had constructed a school latrine that was instrumental in keeping the school open.   Each child wanted a handshake!

We started class the next day with 17 students including teachers, two assistant head masters, and one head master.  All but one participating  school was public.   The other, where families could not pay for school clothes, was supported by a church in Boise Idaho.  The children all seemed to know the importance of an education.   If they didn't go to school, they wouldn't learn to speak English.   If they didn't learn English, they couldn't get a job and would be caught in the vicious cycle of poverty.  Our students were so full of fun and yet so aware of their importance to the children of Zambia.   One teaching technique is to make a song that teaches.   They came up with some great songs on short notice, but the "Latrine Dance" was unforgettable! 

"Teachbacks" are often the best part of our trainings, because they reinforce the lessons. Visiting each school to watch a teacher employ the lessons was particularly enjoyable. The children were very well behaved in spite class sizes of up to 80 and very spartan conditions.

 One of our group goes by the nickname of Sky.   She founded Bridging the Gap (see the link) which raises funds for WASH programs.   She took us to two AIDS orphanages before we returned home.      One AIDS orphanage was  run by Seeds of Hope (not to be confused with SoHIP -- see link ).     It 's beginnings were as a hospice, but the founders found that children were starting to survive and needed a place to live. They are doing wonderful things for the kids with dorm rooms, classrooms, and a dining hall.  We were introduced to a child who was not going to survive and heard his story:    The hospital was so crowded with children with AIDS they were sharing beds and in this child's case -- laying on a piece of plastic on the floor.  He had a haunting sadness in his eyes but tried to smile for us.    Sky took us to another orphanage where AIDS widows were given jobs making attractive purses and other useful items.   As they sang to us, we learned that AIDS widows are usually destitute with little recourse.  It reminded me of a must read best selling book I read on the way home from Uganda:  "Kisses from Katie."   What an amazing young woman.   I wish I had her courage.  

2012 friends in Uganda

It is a special pleasure to go back to a place where you have taught and see the progress that has occurred.   On this trip,  no Ugandan army troops were needed to keep the LRA away and the refugee camps were gone.  The city of Lira was like a beehive of activity and growth with many people actually smiling.    Another special aspect of a return visit is to see friends from the last trip and make new friends.   What a joy!  We were there to teach Lifewater's partner about sanitation, because they had a contract deadline of just a few months to get the surrounding sub-district to be the first in Uganda to become open defecation free.   What a challenge!   

A local WASH representative walks to her home after class.

Often I am the oldest volunteer on these trips, but this was my first time to be the youngest. All three ladies were so joyful.  
We taught at the same location where pump repair had been our subject almost 6 years earlier.  The partners top leaders attended the class.  The director is amazing.  He also is the senior pastor of a very large congregation that is constructing a new church and he is also a boarding school adviser where his wife is head mistress.   When does he sleep?
 After 2 days of class, SURPRISE.   There would be no class the next day.  It was "Jubilee" -- the 50th anniversary of Uganda's independence.  We hastily arranged to visit a game park.  We arrived late that evening.  The hotel had a full buffet waiting for us. 

We picked up our guide in our crew cab pickup at daybreak.   It was an hour before we saw another vehicle.  Our guide took us down a road where we saw an elephant with the Nile river in the background.   We got too close because the elephant turned and flared his ears.  The guide yelled "go back!" The pickup sped backwards at probably 25 mph  We didn't see their big cats, but Murchison Falls is the most enjoyable game park I have visited.
  We made up the class day on Saturday.   Most of the lessons involved proper latrine construction and alternatives.   A lesson on how to implement the project was probably the most useful because they accomplished their goal after we left. 

   We built a circular cement slab which has distinct advantages over square slabs like less rebar, less cutting, easier to move, and fits a circular hole which is more stable.   We also built a  bamboo slab and a sanplat (sanitary platform) to cover it.   We weren't surprised to see termites had attacked the bamboo slab by the next morning.   Wood or bamboo slabs are not safe because people can fall in.  However, I explained that in Indonesia that the Dutch colonists solved that problem.   Bury the bamboo in wet mud for a month and the cellulose that attracts termites will be gone.  18th century buildings using dried bamboo as rebar are still standing. This is important to note because people just don't want to spend money on a latrine.  Wood slabs are unsafe with termites unless cellulose is removed.
   I got terribly sick on the last day of class.  I should have realized that a full buffet at 10 PM in an off- the- beaten-path hotel was probably not safe.   The local doctor gave me about 3 days of antibiotic, so a US medical clinic was the first place to visit on the return home.   When we left the students were quite sad  with one having tears streaming down his face.  Sanitation training isn't recognized by local people as life saving, but  I pray God will grant me 10 more years of this gratifying work.

July 2012 - Sweating it out in Indonesia

Food for the Hungry www.fh.org  had been discussing a trip to the Philippines with me, but a series of mishaps including a volunteer who broke a knee cap, prevented that from happening.   I still hope to go the the Philippines some day, but FH made an opening for me to teach an introduction to WASH on a trip to Indonesia.  There were about seven of us, but I was the only one with WASH experience.  Realizing that this could be the only WASH training the indigenous partner would receive for some time, I  spent a great deal of time preparing a curriculum.  It turned out to be one of my most memorable trips in many ways. 

   Shortly after we arrived, one of our hosts suggested we kick around a soccer ball indoors. We drove quite a while until we came to an open soccer field.    We kicked the ball around and then a bunch of guys showed up in yellow jerseys.     We were given red jerseys and found ourselves in the middle of a game... and then it started raining.   It was supposed to be the dry season, but in 20 minutes the field was flooded as we played on.  The guys on the other team didn't speak English and I didn't know a word of Indonesian, but it was all very friendly.  What a great time!
  The next morning I was told that two of the FH staff were going to show me some thing.   We drove for about an hour or two.

Then we came to a village where we parked.    We walked a while until we came to a dock along a river.   We waited a while in sweltering heat until a ferry showed up. We sat on the roof for an hour as the ferry chugged its way to a fishing village where the river met the ocean.  We toured the village and even got to see a household latrine.   It was a hole in the floor.   With most of the village on pillars, the tide was supposed to serve as the sewer system.   What a horrible solution!
We observed people with serious skin rashes and sewage floating between the homes.   There was sewage standing in the school yard where a child was wading.  Unfortunately, with ground level below water level much of the time, the pit latrines I had learned to build were not viable.  A dry composting latrine might have made sense but the cost of transporting materials was prohibitive.  Two of the volunteers agreed to help me teach as best they could.  On Monday, we started class and were surprised to learn that almost every one of our students were FH staff with college degrees.

There used to be a statistic from the WHO that said something to the effect that childhood deaths from diarrhea were reduced by 20% with safe water alone, 30% with hygiene alone, and 35% with sanitation alone -- but if you combine all three with holistic WASH the death rate was reduced by 65% .    These students totally got it!  
We went to an inland village where we built a latrine slab and watched a "teachback" wherein our students taught the disease paths and disease path blocking lesson to village leaders.    It raised some interesting discussion.   Then our students taught about 30 kids how to wash hands with a tippy tap. I am always amazed by "God things" that happen on these trips.   At the graduation ceremony, one of the students asked me if the people in the fishing village could simply poop into a bucket (essentially a chamber pot).   After giving it some thought, I realized that there is a badly needed solution.. Indonesia has something like 17,000 islands, so the fishing village is not a unique situation.    Modifying the chamber pot idea, they could allow effluent from the bucket to pass through to the sea through a tube while retaining the sludge for composting.  There is a lot more to this idea and contamination could be reduced even further, but I have been unsuccessful trying to find an NGO willing to test the idea.  I built one in Uganda later.   They liked the idea but have given me no feedback.   A safe water solution that should be fabulous in Indonesia is rain water harvesting.   They could basically collect water runoff from their roof into a tank before it gets contaminated.

Nicaragua January 2012

This was my first trip with a different NGO www.livingwater.org .    It was rewarding to get back to a developing country to help make lives better.    I had never seen an active volcano before, but there are several with one smoking continually while we were there.

Poverty in Nicaragua did not seem as severe as in Africa and Asia, but life could certainly be better with safe drinking water.   Living Water has a different approach that appears to have helped them weather the recession.  Their WASH trips are more for people who want that first time missions trip.   The indigenous drilling crew was quite experienced and in fact was telling us what to do and how to do it.  Accordingly, we had some college students with great hearts and a fun spirit.

 The drill crew knew almost exactly where they

would hit water.    I had been trained to bail water out of the well by hand until it cleans up.  This crew was so well equipped that they had an air compressor to blow the drilling mud out of the hole.   Needless to say, those with a younger mindset than me, had a great time playing in the water.

Some great relationships were developed.  It was a great time and a worthwhile cause, but I hadn't added any expertise. 

a pause

I stopped posting to my blog after the 2010 trip for two reasons:   spam messages were coming in almost daily with anonymous comments that appeared to be in Asian characters that I couldn't read.  Also, the recession had dried up project funding,  with a result of no trips in 2011. Feeling like a benched player who had so much to offer, I started networking and found other NGO's willing to put me back on the playing field. 

It is March 2014 and suddenly the spams have largely stopped and constructive comments are coming in, so I decided to catch up by reporting on  three trips each in 2012 &  2013 from oldest to newest.   It may take a  a few months to get to trip14.   As of 3/17/14 all but two trips have been posted.   It never occurred to me when I got involved in WASH Education that I would feel so called to so many volunteer trips. My hope is to do this for another ten years, so this could turn into a very lengthy blog. 

For the last few years, I have been speaking to classes in the Denver Public School system about the WASH crisis.   The talk usually starts with a very short video clip showing a toddler dipping a water bottle into a sewer and drinking it as he stares intently into the camera.  After pointing out that the water isn't just muddy,  I have their attention!