Notes from April 16, 2012

Gerrard and Bosco are simple men but from time to time they offer up some real gems.  Today, after taking a grilling from Justine (the cook),  Gerrard lamented (in his thick accent and toothy grin), ‘ladies…they are very difficult’.

Yesterday we had our community meeting at the Railways.  We wanted to gauge their interest in the latrine project and test their motivation to contribute to their maintenance and emptying.  A variety of local leaders were present and a health officer who helped to educate the people on sanitation.  I think it went well but was not without great animation and confusion.  As I get to know the community better I can see that it is just like any other in that there are tensions with members who do not follow community rules regarding keeping toilets clean.  Therefore the clean one’s have taken to putting a padlock on the ‘stance’ (stall) that belongs to their block exclusively.  Each block then polices itself.  If you walk through the railways you will see many latrines but none of them are functional.  Some latrines weren’t constructed with cement footings lining the pit so that the whole structure is now sinking into the hole underneath.  The water toilets get blocked almost as quickly as they get repaired so the community has opted unanimously for lined pit latrines instead. 

Ben had reached his threshold for talk of feces.

We are in the bowels of community processing right now.  At one point during our meeting one of the members rose to say that if anyone is caught deficating on the ground they should be beaten with sticks.  Another member took aim at the local leaders saying, ‘why do you wait till foreigners come to show interest in us?’  and ‘why don’t you use government funds to help us?’  Another wanted to know what the chairman was going to do about the member who was caught throwing his feces out the window in a plastic bag.  I’ve got to say it’s a no brainer for sure that they need help with toilets but the issues and underlying tensions causes by lack of facilities is pretty intense.  It doesn’t help that a good portion of the men spend most of their time sitting around buckets of local brew drinking out of long straws.  It also doesn’t help that some members come from deep in the villages where they have never learned about using a toilet properly.  Some community members come from tribes that believe that if women use latrines they will become infertile.  Many think it is a place to put garbage thus clogging the drains.  You can see there are some obstacles to overcome.   

I'm seated next to the Parish Councillor: Allen (holding baby)

trying to talk one of the members down off the ledge...

I think life here can be summed up by saying that things are rarely as they appear.  You go to use something and it doesn’t work.  You want to do something that requires power and it goes out.  You want to fry and egg and the frying pan is missing the handle.  You’re in the middle of a phone conversation and just when you’re about to the get the information you so longingly desire his airtime runs out and you can’t reach him for the rest of the day.  You’re never quite sure if a ‘yes’ is a ‘yes’.  ‘Left’ sometimes means ‘right’.  Directions are so much fun.  So, it’s kind of like an obstacle course.  The kind that maybe you played in youth group when you were sent out to find clues and be the first to make it back.  That’s kind of the way if feel much of the time.