Pit Latrines and More!

WOW! Have we had an incredible day!

Yesterday, we were slightly concerned about the construction work we hoped to accomplish today and had specific concerns for which we asked you for prayer. Seeing answers today to many those prayers has been absolutely incredible…our God is so good!

We arrived at the village just before 8 am. Many members of the community were there to greet us and were eager to work. Final design plans were made for the construction of the pump and we began mixing and pouring the cement. We were incredibly blessed to be able to have the construction spearheaded by Gabriel (a World Vision employee and Ghana native) and ‘Blue Boy’(at least, that is what many referred to him as, though I doubt his is real name.) ‘Blue Boy’ is a local artisan.

New construction on the pump

At a point during the construction of the pump, the children from the village brought drums and began dancing for us (Nate, Evie, Noela and Elizabeth even joined in the fun for a bit!).

Drumming and dancing

In the late morning, we began construction on the latrine. Often times in villages like the one we are working in, the community does not have a latrine and instead utilizes the bush as their facilities. This is both unsanitary and poses serious health and safety risks (especially at night when snakes in the bush can be hard to see.)

Why don’t they just build a latrine themselves you might ask? There are several reasons. First, most latrines they have seen are constructed out of concrete and other materials not easily accessible for the community. They often time lack the funding to be able to build a latrine like this. Second, the community is often concerned about building a latrine from local materials for fear of the hole caving in…and them falling in with it! (Can you imagine being afraid to use the bathroom for fear of falling 6 feet into it?!)

The challenge with this project was to construct a latrine that both used local materials (thus keeping costs of the community low) AND was sturdy enough so that no one would have the fear of being ‘flushed away.’ The solution was found by digging a hole not quite as deep as other latrines (about 5 feet) and laying interwoven wood pieces across the top. The superstructure was constructed using mud bricks and plaster, both of which are found in the community and are commonly used to build their homes.

Though there was some doubt from the village at first, the ultimate response from the community was one of overwhelming excitement! One man even commented that he wanted to build one in his bedroom (though he was cautioned that the smell would quickly drive him out of there!) It is our hope that this latrine can be a model for other communities in the area so that they might be able to construct similar structures on their own.

Latrine construction...anyone else have a bathroom that looks like this?

Throughout the day, we continued to receive a warm welcome from the village. Evie and Elizabeth were able to even tour some of the homes and experience some of their culture by cooking and eating with some of the villagers.

Homes in the village

Where were Derick and Rodney while all this was taking place? They decided to spend the day relaxing by the pool at the hotel. Just kidding! Our hotel does not have a pool so they decided to go to the exercise room instead. Kidding again! The documentary duo spent part of the day filming at the village and then traveled to another community in which World Vision is working to conduct additional interviews and filming. The documentary duo has put together an incredible blog describing more of the work they have done on the trip. The link can be found here: http://theghanafilm.wordpress.com/. If you have a minute, please check in out!

On another note, Derick has now made many friends with the village children. (Much different from yesterday when he made them cry!) 

Village children following Derick. 

Thank you for all of your continued support and prayer! Here are some specific requests you can be praying for as we spend our last day in Tamale tomorrow:

--Pray for the last day of construction of the pump and latrine, including safety for the individuals working on it and the completion of the project.

--Pray for doors to be continued to open to be able to witness to the community. We had two opportunities to pray with villagers today and hope that there may be additional opportunities tomorrow!

--Pray that the people in the village will utilize these new technologies and that they would serve as a leading example for other communities in the area.

--PRAISE (and continued prayer) for the health we all have had on this trip! We have now spent four full days here and no one has been sick.

The team with Noela pictured with the newly constructed ramp.