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Progress Report on Katie M’s Latrines
Katie reports that the first 20 latrines have been completed, and that holes have been dug for 20 more. That really puts the pressure on us to keep up, as we have told her that we won’t stop until the whole town has latrines.
With your help, we can do this. Here is a note from one of our donors:
“I am hoping to be able to keep fund raising and whenever I get enough money for a latrine I will send it. This money is being donated by the operating room staff and physicians at Minneapolis Children's Hospital.”
Why don’t you do the same thing? Pass the hat around the office, and donate $75 for one latrine. Let us know it’s for Katie’s Latrines. Click the Donate button use PayPal or your credit card. Otherwise, send a check to Water Charity, P.O. Box 368, Crestline, CA 92325-0368.
Katie reports:
“In many cases, we have 13 people currently using 1 latrine, and the picture of the men building the latrine is in a house where there is NO latrine. They had the hole dug, but they didn't have the money to buy the little house around it and the seat.
“These families worked day and night to get the holes and latrines done, digging holes 23 to 50 feet deep! It is scary work in a hole that deep and narrow. For the latrine you see being built, the family went down 120 feet!!
“They are very serious about this. We are doing education along with the latrine project as well. It is not good enough just to give a technology (however crude). It must be accompanied by education on its use. It may seem obvious how to use a latrine, but many communities have them and still children are defecating in the patio.
“This is a huge mechanism for the spread of disease and cause of diarrhea. We have done multiple educational trainings and discus sions with the beneficiaries of this latrine project to make sure that they are used well and that this project will actually improve health, the end goal.
“Right now, my community has water, but according to the American nurse who visits us once a month, we have one of the highest incidences of diarrhea of all the communities in which she works. These latrines are crucial to the improvement of my community's health. They have made this project their priority, organized faster and better than I could ever have believed, and they are ready to finish it up.”
To read the background to this project, click HERE.
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