Sunday, March 7, 2010
March 4-
March 4-5, 2010
Spent these days shooting Hengly. We were picked up at 6a.m. so that we could make a meeting that he had in the District for a training session to teach commune women and men how to market toilets, or has he puts it how to create demand. We stopped for breakfast at the side of the road modern fast food breakfast spot where all of the breakfast choices were illustrated by pictures on the wall. There no bacon and eggs and I had beef noodle soup.
After the Distict meeting we went into the village and met with the Chief who was the first to have bought a latrine. The flush toilet is really a squatter with a shelter around it i.e. a door sides and roof. One can upgrade from zinc sides to concrete for more money. The basis cost is $42. The way one flushes is to scoop water from a huge water storage jar. So this family sanitation is certainly a step up from defecating in the bush but there is no leach field as all of the effluent goes into a “ concrete ring” in the ground. There is no system yet to empty it other than digging it out and then where does it go. In other words and I apologize for the graphic images here but I am into the latrine business, there is no service that pumps out the tank. It is seen by the public health officials as step one and an improvement from the bush where when rainy season comes….
This family’s water supply and most of the village is from what is called the “pond” which is stagnant lotus growing area next to the rice paddies. He hooks a barrel on a little trailer behind his moto and goes the 400 meters to fill the barrel with “ clean water”. He used to use a filter but that is broken and so now he boils the water, most of the time. I am posting a picture of the water and notice the color.
We then attended a meeting at the Provincial level.Hengly has been able to convince this Province of his marking scheme to sell toilets to villagers and to use the capitalistic model to be self sustaining. He is a very personable and driven 26 year old.
Got back to the hotel around 7PM another long day and we were all to exhausted to do anything more than grab a shower and some Indian food around the corner.
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