The Latrine Dream

I’m sure by now you’ve thought I’ve either  fallen off a large cliff, been bitten by a snake, caught in some machete fight, or maybe just that I’ve given up on blogging.  Well good news! I am alive and well and back to blogging.  Since Christmas, I have been insanely busy with various projects and protest situations throughout Panama so I have had limited free computer time.  But I would love to share with you what has kept me from writing earlier on.

As much as I would like to go on in detail about the mining and hydroelectric situation that is currently taking over the Panamanian politics, Peace Corps Panama does not allow us to express our opinions on this subject for safety reasons.  We must stay neutral.  Because of this I will not explain the confrontations between the government of Panama and the indigenous, as it would be impossible for me to do so without conveying my opinion.  Google it if you are interested.

Besides the protests, my last few months can be summed up with latrine work. After months of organizing people, planning the project, looking for funding (thanks to you all), we have finally started.  First I visited all the houses in the project to check if they hauled all their 9, 5-gallon buckets of gravel from the river and to see if their holes were dug to the appropriate width and length, 1 meter wide and about 3 meters deep.  Some went above and beyond and dug 4 or 4 and a half meters, leaving me baffled at how a man in his 60s could do such a thing by himself.

After these checks, 56 families were left in the project, willing and able to work. The first day of hauling materials consisted of:  A 100 pound bag of cement, a few pounds of nails, 2 extremely long rebar sticks, some wire, and a ridiculously heavy latrine seat made out of cement for each family.  My hike is about an hour and a half without heavy cargo, so you can imagine how long this would take.  However, the strength of the Ngabes never ceases to amaze me.  Older woman were there to pick up these materials and were taking turns hauling it in on their backs.  Once all these materials were brought in, including some shovels, floats, hacksaws, etc. We were able to start making the cement platforms. I did 5 example latrine platforms in each of the 5 sectors, where every participant was required to come and learn the process.  After these 5 days were completed we formed work groups and were able to complete about 4 latrine platforms a day; on my best/most exhausting day, we made 7.  It has been amazing to see how fast some of the community members have learned how to make them and have taken ownership of the whole project.  At the beginning almost no one had seen cement be mixed before or knew how to assemble the latrine platform. But just after a few practices I no longer had to explain or ask people to do things. I am becoming more and more useless every day …which is exactly what I wanted.

Currently we have 46 cement platforms made with 10 more to go. Yesterday we hauled in our shipment of zinc for the roofs so we could start making the houses for the latrines.  Like I said, I have been extremely happy with how things are going.  Because the people are actually building the latrines themselves, instead of some outside construction company, they are invested in the project and proud of their work. This ensures that they will be more likely to take care of the latrine in the future so it will last for many years.

Once again, I would love to thank everyone for supporting me here and in this project. I couldn’t have done it without you all and your generosity.  Check out the pictures on Facebook.

Much love

Kayla

Oh, and if you missed out on donating to my project and would like the opportunity to make a tax deductible donation to another worthy peace corps project in Panama, check out this link below.  By donating to this project you will be helping provide running water to 26 families in a rural campesino village in Panama. Thanks

 https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=525-172