Building Toilets: and you though your job was crappy!

One of the platforms waiting to be placed over the hole

Crappy! Get it? Because they're toilets...sorry, I couldn't resist. Actually, all things considered I would say this was my most successful project in village yet. The funding came in pretty quickly (thanks everyone who donated!), my expectations were realistic (I knew it was going to take forever and that was ok), and the community took major ownership of the project and was really proactive in getting it done. Several months ago I made a map of my village and my work partner and I did a formal survey of all of the latrines in Sambande to assess the need for a latrine project. It turns out there were only 14 functional latrines, in a village of over 500 people, and families who didn't have a latrine were just going out into the bush to do their business (no wonder I'm always sick!). So we called a village-wide meeting and told them something they already knew, but this time with a colorful map to highlight just how inadequate Sambande's sanitation situation was.

Announcing the lottery winners

Step one in solving the problem was to elect a sanitation committee, to put the villagers completely in charge of the project. They then elected a president and started meeting right away to discuss the logistics of the project. They calculated how many latrines could be made with the available funds, made a list of families interested in participating and then held a lottery to decide which 30 houses would get latrines. Since we were trying to complete as many latrines as possible on a really tight budget, the sanitation committee opted for the simplest design; A 1.5x1.5 meter platform re-enforced with rebar that is meant to last at least 10 years. When the underlying hole is full or becomes too unstable, the platform can be picked up by a few strong men and moved to cover a new hole.

Digging is hard work

 In order to stretch the money as far as possible each family that received a latrine had to dig their own 1x3 meter hole, provide rocks and sand to mix with the cement and pay a mason $3 for the construction. The grant money paid for two bars of rebar and two sacks of cement for each latrine. This not only allowed us to build the maximum number of latrines, it also ensured that anyone getting a latrine was really interested. Each family was given two months to dig their hole and collect the necessary rocks and sand, and of the 30 recipients only six didn't have enough motivation to get it done, so those latrines were auctioned off to different households.

Building latrines is a family affair

.The thing that made this project so successful was the amount of ownership my village took of it.  The president of our sanitation committee was the most motivated person I have worked with in Senegal yet, and he took complete control of the project, making me almost obsolete. Essentially my only role was to act as the bank, and provide the money when it was time to purchase supplies, which is just the way it should be. All of the planning came from the community members, they made all of the major decisions and did all of the work. In a country where most people are conditioned to wait for NGOs to come in and solve all of their problems, I couldn't be more proud of the way my villagers stepped up to tackle their own issues.