Want to learn a little more over your lunch sandwich, here are a few sites to bedazzle your lightening fire questions, thoughts or interest!
So far, one in on the field, and new ones on deck, just you got to make sure you visit often for another time up to bat!
http://www.lifewater.org/wash-statistics
TO DONATE:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-223
OR IF YOU CAN’t DONATE, SeND a GOod EnERGY mesSage comment or such….
OR SEND GOOD ENERG
I began with a group of women, who I frankly, could not very much so communicate with. My Spanish was, to say the least, limited and my Guarani, less than limited, perhaps at the level of a 2 year old, and that is being generous.
I was trying to learn the language, get accustomed to my new home, while at the same time working already to organize a group in which I had no idea how to organize. After a adventurous, COLD, long trip to the department government, in which I had little to say to the authorities there becaue I could not speak too far beyond the 40 most common Spanish verbs, the women unfortunately took a huge defeat: as the government said they were financing NOTHING, and additionally, they had no intentions of financing our particular type of project.
I was trying to get used to a new country, language and job and women were dropping out like flies. I would come prepared to meet with women who were still whining about a failure that had occurred months ago. Finally, we had a vote and the women who stayed, said aloud in front of the others YES or NO, this method of self accountability behind an opinion is rare, but they did it.
At first I felt like I was a motorboat, with an engine that was too small to get me through a murky see. I had to beg for support, and I only got suggestions on how to improve the state of the committee by my trusted host mom, who even dropped out.
After establishing that my work, was not to do their work: such as organize meetings, keep track of papers, run meetings, monitor that people were following the rules: these things were NOT my job. A little bit later, I had an amazing time with the president at a technical workshop and after that, our abiltiy to understand one another sky rocketed, her faith that the project was possible became concrete and I smile the day the women said so Carroll, “hay esparanza…” actually, in truth I had no idea what that meant, but after figuring it out, I breathed out a little bit, and new we had a small team ready to go with me the distance for their dream….
SO, What Did We Do…
We spent nothing short of hours 20 liters of fabric softner, cooked more food to sale at a variety of commuity events, pulled together for movie nights, and recently we had our most succesful project: organizing a group call The Vision Foundation, to come to our community and give eye exams to people of all ages for a very minimal cost ( 2.00 USD a consultation). We recieved money from the local governer to feed the doctors, sold food for the commission during the event and although we did not make a whole lot of money, the women were happy to feel the elation of doing something useful for their community…the president told me on the way out, “Carroll we did not make a whole lot of money at the food stand, but we did a lot of good things for a lot of people, and for me that is a success…ok ciao!”
Here are some videos of our work:
Why the Western Style Bathroom:
There are three main reasons we are commited to finishing this project:
1. Increase sanination and better the overall health standard within the community, through the construction of sanitary bathrooms and educational lessons
2. To decreases the, now frequent occurence of DIARREA, PARASITES and THE COMMON COLD/PNEMONIA, mainly through the promotion of handwashing (as the Western Bathroom will have a sink!) 3. Increase the safety of the women and children, who currently leave outside to doorless wooden structures, that sometimes are situated far from the house: an indoor structure would be much more secure and ideal.
4. To capacitate the women involved in this project with the skills to achieve other large scale community embetterment projects in thier community.
Here is an example of the bathroom we would like to construct, within the homes of the 15 families.
CHECK IT OUT!
What is a Latrine?
A latrine is basically a simple waste collector, it is the equivalent of a bathroom, a stall…whatever you may call it. In this case, in the context of this project, a latrine refers to:
a hole in the ground, that if made well, will be surrounded with bricks (from the inside) in order to increase stability
a losa, which is a square cement block with a little hole, that is put on top of the giant hole, this is basically the toilet
a roof to prevent the overflow of waste and the decomposition of the structure
a pipe to promote ventilation, so that the latrine does not become a haven for disease carrying flies
a top, to cover the cement hole, to thwart the collection of bugs whom are attracted to the odor of waste and additionally prevent overflow
..and so forth…here is a basic picture…
BASIC PIT LATRINE:
http://helid.digicollection.org/documents/s13461e/p317.gif
Many of the families in the community of Barrero Pyta have simple pit latrines, but often they are not well kept and therefore promote the spread of diarrea, parasites and the lack of hand washing, also increases the possibilty of passing acute respiratory illnesses. These three diseases are some of the top killers of children and elderly in developing countries, around the world.
YES: It is possible to make a clean latrine, and if you are big bathroom geek, hobbyist or engineer of sorts, you have probably looked into composting latrines, or other more effecient ways of waste disposal. In this country; however, considering the majority of rural populations do not even have sanitary pit latrines, the Western Style Bathroom IS a step up, and more importantly it is what the women in this group want.
The priveledge to have a dream, want or a goal is something the majority of these women have never had the opportunity to try. My job is not to tell people what they need, or what is better for them, the biggest part of my job is helping empower the individual to become a motivated free agent for change within/for themselves, for their family/friends or their community. The female is often sexually demeaned by the ego of the man here, and the thought of actually earning something on their own merit, and following through without following into the rut of complacency, is huge step for themselves and their own self esteem, but also a contagious postive karma, that by example will lead to other community embetterment projects!
This is my co-worker and friend:
Na Marina!
This is Na Marina’s latrine, she is in the commission and currently works as a local health promoter. I would have had her speak a bit, but my camera was short on battery life, but she had just gotten finished describing the problems she has with her bathroom and her history with the commission.
Na Marina has been hoping for a more sanitary bathroom for a while, as a health promoter, she does her best to maintain her bathroom, which you can see in this video; however, there are typical problems with her latrine, despite how well kept it is:
1. She does not have a roof, which causes the ground to get wet, the mud to become messy, and the waste to sometimes overflow out of the toielet
2. The toilet seat is made of wood, so it is full of bacteria and slowly descomposing a little bit every day
3. It is very dangerous for little children to use, and because of this they often have diarrea on the ground, which is one of the easiest ways to spread both parasites and stomach viruses.
4. This latrine is fairly close to her house and that alone is a hazard because they could pollute her water sources.
She would like a better toilet because she feels a little embarrassed to promote health, when she does not have the most sanitary toilet herself. From day to day, she works with the Red Cross and is very interested in the fight against HIV, AIDS and STD’s. Additioanlly, she has 4 sons, and extended family, who all use her bathroom, she would like to improve the standard of health within her household.
CHECK OUT HER LATRINE:
I have created this website to raise awareness about current projects, that I am working on, if you have a project you would like to post, leave a commment or message and maybe we can work together.
Project # 1:
Hello,
My name is Carroll Wallace and I am currently living and working in Paraguay. I have been in the small town of Desvio Union, Barrero Pyta, Yataity del Norte, San Pedro for the last 10 months and working very hard to complete a community project with their curret Women’s Commission.
This Women’s Commission was formed in 2009, in order to raise money for modern bathrooms in each of the active group members families. In the begining the group began with nearly 60 members, both male and female: now, the group stands small and strong, with 15 commited women who each individually decided to stay with the group despite the doubt and complacency that surrounds them.
The project is very expensive, as it will cost about 3 million to construct each sanitary modern bathroom, which in the Paraguay currency, amounts to be about $650.00 for each bathroom. As a group we have petitioned for money from the government twice, from our local city government, sold homemade products and food: everything from fabric softner to the traditional bread/bagel here: chipa, and hosted 4 different community activities within the groups 2 year, going on 3 yr existence.
I am currently working for the Peace Corps, and am in the process of raising money for the Peace Corps Partnership Grant. With this grant, I am asking, with the commission, for a little under $5,000.00 USD, which is a lot of money, especially during the countries financial trying times; however, a little goes a long way. I figure with a population of 22 milion people in my home state alone (keep in mind Paraguay has only 6 million people and is about the size of California), if each person who is able and fueled to help a cause, follows through with a one dollar donation, the women will be closer to the goal they have been working on for what will be 3 years.
On this website you will find videos that show the type of bathroom they would like to construct, what a latrine looks like in their community, the pros and cons of a Western Style latrine, the commission at work…
If you would like more information about the project, please do not hesitate to contact me through a message and I will get back to you as soon as I am able, as internet access is limited in my current home.
This is a link to the grant on the Peace Corps website, it will give you a very brief summary of the project, and if you decide to donate the link to do so!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-223
