How to build a composting latrine

Construction has been underway for about three weeks in Quebrada Pastor. Here are some pictures that might give you all a better idea of how the building goes and how much work it entails. A refresher: a composting latrine is a good alternatative to the traditional pit latrine. It includes two chambers, with only one used being used at any given time. Urine is diverted through tubes out the side of the latrine to keep the contents of the box try, and after every "deposit," a dry material like saw dust or ash is thrown on top to eliminate odor and aid in the compost process. When one side fills, it is left for up to a year to convert into rich soil. Depending on how fast you work, construction takes between 3 and 5 days. Here is some of what it entails.


Step one: Throw a concrete floor.


Step 2: Make the walls and dividing wall with four levels of block. This is the day that is the most technical, and usually intimidates the workers the most. But once they get going, they really love it and always joke about all the masonry jobs they can get as a result of the new skill.
Step 3: Make wooden table to support cement floor which will be thrown on top. Tie up some rebar for support. Below, a man shaves a few inches off a too-wide board. Again, you gotta love these handy men.

Plaster the outside walls, make stairs, and plaster the seats over the holes in the cement floor. Connect tubes that lead outside for the urine,and plaster in the doors on the back wall (out of which you will eventually take the compost).

More pictures coming soon! For further reading, my friend Louis wrote an insightful post about the challenges of working with these latrines and the conflicts volunteers face in deciding whether we ought to promote them. They are not the solution for everyone, and require a lot of prep work and education before a project is pursued. The 12 families who will be receiving the composting latrine chose them over the pit latrine, and were required to meet several pre-requisites in order to demonstrate their understanding and genuine interest. Louis's retro-fitted bidet accessory is something I plan to offer as an option and will eliminate one of the biggest barriers to latrine use (wipe vs. wash).

The Best-Laid Plans

I was excited last week. I had a bunch of things to do, and everyone seemed ready to do them with me. But, whenever I start to get too optimistic, or start thinking ¨Hey, this isn´t so hard¨, reality comes, slaps me around and says ¨Hush now, gringita. You don´t know a thing.¨

I was talking with another PCV the other day on the phone, and told him that it´s clear to me now that we must cycle through at least three dates for an event before we actually do it. People cancel, don´t come, or something comes up and I can´t make it. Here is an example of what last week was like for me:

Tuesday: Planned a self-esteem and values charla in the junior high. Actually did it! Score! It was so-so. My audience wasn´t quite captive.

Wednesday- At long last, the second planned day for our water-level survey. This takes all day. At 8:30 when the President had not yet arrived at my house to begin working, I called him. ¨I have another commitment.¨ That came up awful fast. He said he was ready to go when I went and confirmed Tuesday afternoon. We agreed to do it Sunday. Our other worker, who arrived on time, was unable to do it Sunday. You need at least three people to work with the water level, four is better. I´d have to spend some time chasing down some other people for Sunday.

I was later met by my counterpart, who asked me if I had plans for Thursday. I had reserved that day to prepare a training for Friday about disease transmission with my latrine committee. He informed me that the next day a Bocas organization was holding a meeting in my school, and could I please house 8-12 people on Thursday night? And could I also please attend the meeting on Thursday and Friday morning because ¨movers and shakers¨might be coming, and there could be potential funders for our latrine project. I agreed, but ask him, what about the training we prepared for Friday morning? We agreed to change the date.

Thursday- Sat-in on meeting. Did not need to be there. Brought four participants back to my house in the evening only to realize my rain-water tank had been left open by kids and I had no water for them to bathe with. Luckily, my first host-dad was there to witness my discontent. He will hopefuly speak to his family who comes to use the water to wash their feet when they arrive barefoot from arriba. Leaving the faucet running is a rain-water tank is not good.

Friday- Training session cancelled. Sat-in on rest of meeting. Still not needed.

Saturday- Cleaning of water tanks and spring box planned for the morning. Especially motivated to do this because the aqueduct´s operator told me he had climbed naked into all three the day before to dislodge blockages. Please pass the bleach.

Too few people showed up, so we could not clean the spring box because at least six men are needed to lift the cement tops. We settle for cleaning the reserve tanks, which I pointed out is a little silly if what is arriving from the source is still dirty, but to clean something is better than nothing. Then I see that the aqueduct president did not bring any bleach, only dish soap. I point out that this is not sufficient, bleach is needed. He mutters some excuse. He responds poorly to criticism, especially if anyone else is around, so I bit my tongue and started scrubbing and catching the live crabs that were being thrown out of the water tanks.

I am glad I drink rain water now.

So in the afternoon, we were supposed to have our first English class since the recess began in March. As I was hiking down from the tanks I pass a member of my latrine committee on the path going up. She had the days confused about our training, and thought it was for Saturday. She asked me why I made her walk for no reason! I cleared up the confusion, and asked her what about the English classn in the afternoon? Because I was only expecting 3-4 students, her presence was important. She tells me my other star student was in Almirante and would also not be coming. We agree to cancel the class and pick another day to start over.

Do you see? Some weeks are like this. Despite preparation and plans, none of it actually really happens. Oh well, we´ll try again this week.

Not exactly the 9-5 Dolly was singing about

I am in David today and tomorrow, doing a lot of work on the computer that I haven´t had time to take care of earlier. That, and I hadn´t taken a ¨personal day¨out of site since vacation in March, and I found myself getting grumpy with some of my near and dear community members. When I get grumpy, I know it´s time for a time out. I think I just needed some ice cream.

So anyway, the end of April was busy, and May is shaping up to look like more of the same. Here´s a summary of what I´ve been up to.

1. On the latrine front: Last Monday, my latrine committee and I met with a representative from ANAM, the government´s environmental agency, to complete a community diagnostic activity. It is the first of several steps we will complete in order to plan our latrine project and obtain funds. ANAM itself won´t provide them, but our contact with this agency can help us obtain money from another, or a private donor, and the documents we complete with them can be used as jumping-off points for future projects. They were incredibly pleased with the committee, and said they did a great job participating. This of course made all my community members beam with pride, and many of them came to talk to me afterward to see if I agreed that yes, they did a great job! I also invited a representative from the Ministry of Health (MINSA), who was very helpful and enthusiastic.

Our next step from here involves filling out a detailed project plan, which I will do over the course of several weeks with my counterpart at ANAM´s office in Changuinola. I would like to involve the rest of the committee members in this process as much as possible, but I´m still thinking about how I can best do that.

2. On the water front: My latrine committee held its ¨elections¨ on Friday, and I came to brief them first with a charla about the roles and responsibilities of each member of the board. It went well, and they seemed grateful for the information. It seem the President has given the laws that the committee must follow no more than a cursory glance, and everyone was prepared to vote for and fill positions they weren´t entirely sure about.

The biggest obstacle I have had in working with my water committee has been that the group is extremely dysfunctional. They have all of these internal issues, grudges, family histories, gossip, whatever, that prevents them from communicating, working as a team, or well, working at all. I also presented a few notes on the virtues and vices of good team work, and tried to offer some motivation for the future. After having just completed six months in service, only now are the members starting to tell me the true past of the aqueduct committee, and everyone´s story is different. The common themes are: corruption, selfishness, rule-breaking, lack of responsibility.

The other obstacle I have been met with is that, until recently, no one seemed willing to work on the problems. But sometimes you just have to give people time. After months of gentle, and sometimes, not-so-gentle prodding, the President and the Vice President seem more willing to listen to what I have to say and the charlas, trainings, and work days that I have offered. They see now that neither the committee nor the water system is functioning as it should. The biggest problems I have seen since arriving here in Panama among water commitees are people issues, organization, motivation, or conflict issues. The technical stuff is easy once you have a strong team. Now I just have to get them to believe me.

3. The kids: A few weeks ago, I went around to the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades to talk about Panama Verde. It is an environmental group that was founded by a Peace Corps volunteer, but is now managed on a national level by Panamanians. It promotes conservation projects and the development of leadership skills among youth with equal emphasis.

In my community, all of our biggest creeks run directly to the ocean. They are contaminated with chemicals, trash, and human excrement. Candy, cookie and food wrappers litter the ground. People burn trash-laden with plastics, and the breeze blows it all back into their house. Most families cook on fogons in their houses, which are essentially indoor campfires which use use copiuous amounts of firewood (deforestation). The thick, black smoke blows right back at them. The lungs of all of my neighbor´s children rattle. (I am hoping that my group will be interested in a stove project I plan to suggest... more coming on this) Obviously there are dozens of opportunities for environmental education and projects in my QP. Panama Verde empowers the jovenes (youth-ish 12-25) to take it on themselves. I am a counselor for the group. I give them ideas, help them fundraise, teach them through charlas, activities, and games, but they also form their own governing board (directiva), and take on more and more as time goes on. One group that was started by a Peace Corps volunteer a few years ago in a neighboring town is now run entirely by the jovenes without any help from adults.

That for me is the most exciting part. The development of self-esteem, problem-solving, and leadership skills. These kids have very few opportunities for that, and in fact, have very few opportunities to just hang out and be kids. If they are not in school, they are working in the finca or taking care of younger siblings. Panama Verde is a real opportunity for them to think about personal development, all while helping out their community.

I had a list of 73 kids who said they wanted to participate. So, I invited the regional coordinator for Panama Verde to come and help me with a charla to explain more clearly what PV is and what sort of work we would do. I was hoping for a group of 10-15. That meeting was Saturday, and six students came. But, as the coordinator pointed out to me, those are the ones who really wanted to be there. And they seemed genuinely excited and dedicated. I plan to recruit a few more members, and we´ll have a swear-in at the end of May.

4. Project Management and Leadership (PML)! Peace Corps invites all of its volunteers to bring a counterpart to a PML conference after five months in site. I was unable to attend mine because I was held up in the clinic with that bothersome foot infection, but my counterpart did attend, and loved it. The conference focuses on the following themes: Identifying Personal Goals, Values, and Missions for Groups, Time and Money Management, Forming Effective Groups, Facilitating Group Interaction, Formal Letter Writing, and Interacting with Agencies.

The information seems fairly basic to us, but for many of the Panamanian or indigenous peoples we work with, PML might be the first time anyone told them to write down their appointments in an agenda, or that to offer someone positive re-inforcement is better than negative, or even how keeping close track of your monthly expenses can help you save money. The ideas are simple, but many have never had opportunities to properly learn and practice them. Many of the counterparts get a lot out of it, some of it is over their heads, but at the very least, it is a reward away from the communities, and a chance for them to feel special. The idea is that they can help their PCV present these concepts in their communities at a later date.

Enter Cati! I am bringing PML to QP this month, condensing three days of material into two, and presenting it all with the help of three other volunteer friends. I invited all the members of my latrine and water committees, and so far, everyone seems willing to come. I typed up formal letter invitations and hand-delivered each. I think this helped, they respect a formal letter. I am trying to obtain some donations of materials from a local bookstore in Changuinola, and will be busy prepping the materials in the coming weeks. I am super excited to work with my counterpart Lucas and my committees in a new capacity, and one that will empower them and provide them with some legitimate tools to continue forward. And, it´s always good to bring in back-up volunteer reinforcements. (Three other people are saying what Cati is saying... maybe now I´ll consider it!)

5. Spent two days surveying for a new aqueduct system in a nearby PCV community. The tool we use to survey is a water level, which provides measurements that are much more accurate than a GPS or abney level or whatever other tools other professionals might use. Water levels have been used in various forms for centuries, and work on the principal that water always looks for its own level. Picture: a reservoir tank out of which exits a clear plastic tube which extends for 50 feet of length, and then another 10 feet up a straight pole, with a measuring tape attached. As you move along the terrain, you maintain the reservoir higher than the pole, and move from point to point. The water level gives you the change in altitude between the two points, and the marks you´ve made on the length of the tube tell you the distance. This, combined with measuring a source and doing basic population forecasting, are the first steps in planning for an aqueduct system. The water level is a PC favorite because it is something we can do with our community members, and helps them understand some of the basic principals of gravity-flow water systems.

So that´s what I´ve been up to.

The days we surveyed were HOT AS HADES, but it was fun to do some real dirty work, and the company of other PCVs is always appreciated. This is kind of a ridiculous pose I am striking but que va...

So on Tuesday, I am leaving for three days of aqueduct technical training in one of our group 64 volunteer´s sites. I am excited to see all of my EH folks again, since I felt robbed and socially-deprived after missing PML in March.

Drinkable water in 9 steps

1. Move to a rainy climate. Preferably Bocas del Toro in Panama.
2. Excavate a hole using a machete and shovel, as I did, or site another location for your tank.
3. Cut 3 or 4¨PVC tube lengthwise with hacksaw, place on roof with elbow at the end.
4. Remove tank top with hot matchete and hammer. (this takes hours)
5. Poke hole for faucet with heated peace of rebar.
6. Tap threads for faucet with metal-thread-tapper thingy.
7. Wrap faucet in teflon tape, screw in, and seal with caulk.
8. Place mesh over top to keep the creepy-crawlies out.
9. Place tank and enjoy the parasite-free fruits of your labor.
(fellow PCVs used as models)

I use my rain water for everything. In good, steady rain, this 55-gallon tank fills in 20 minutes. I still bleach it just to be safe (who knows what´s living on my roof?), but this is the cleanest water I can be drinking.

Note on water use: A lot of contamination in my site happens in the house when people are dipping their dirty hands into buckets of stored water to make drinks or food. I installed a faucet in one of the five-gallon buckets most families use for storage, filled it with juice, and brought it to a meeting to share. I discreetly called attention to it after a latrine charla, which included a lot of talk about water contamination, and would you guess? PEOPLE WENT WILD. They roared! They hollered! They could not believe my brilliance, and more importantly, that bucket is cool, they said. Everyone wanted one. I promised that if they buy the faucet and nut, I will happily do the work for them. I used their enthusiasm as an opportunity to continue discussion about disease transmission and contamination at the household level. It´s a cheap, easy solution for a big problem.


Total cost of rain-water catchment system: $60.
Total cost of installing faucet in a 5-gallon bucket: $1.65, if tape and caulk are provided.

The doctor is out

Health is a fun topic. No matter who you are, or how much access to education you´ve had, you probably still harbor some baseless medical theories, or cling to a magical cure that you swear will knock out a fever, stomach ache, low bone density, or what-have-you better than anything else out there. In my magical Ngobe village, it is the exact same, but more extreme, because bush medicine reigns supreme, and people hate going to the doctor. I have trouble walking the line between enjoying their stories to intervening when they say something that is completely untrue and bordering on harmful.

So my neighbor Julio is a ball of energy, and he has taken to coming over several nights a week (despite my loosely-enforced stay-out-of -my -house-after-dark policy). He is always overflowing with questions and enthusiasm, and sometimes I can´t bring myself to turn him away. Eventually his wife and sleepy children parade in one by one, and I am left explaining every medical condition or strange news story he has ever encountered while the kids fall asleep on the cement floor.

Last week, I exceeded even my own expectations and explained The Pregnant Man, and led him slowly but surely through a conversation about sex, gender, and sexuality. Last night, he came over and all of a sudden said, "What about AIDS!!!"

What about AIDS, Julio? I should be thankful, because Peace Corps wants us to teach all about HIV/AIDS, sexually-transmitted diseases, and other sex and gender issues on the side, and his questions give me great practice. He told me all about how he never eats in Almirante, because the plates could have AIDS, and also that he used to fear sitting on warm seats because the heat could have AIDS!!

This soon led us into a larger discussion about health matters in general, because he knew I was sick and had to come back to the city today for a blood test. He told me not to wash my face or brush my teeth before, because otherwise they couldn´t take the blood. To which I responded with one of my favorite exclamations, "Mentira!" Lie! He then told me another story about a time he was going to donate blood, and couldn´t because his wife was pregnant. Another mentira! (Although that´s kind of a cute idea. His blood is "weak" because his señora is preggers... like sympathy pains!) Then, he said he hasn´t been feeling well and the solution would be to fill himself up with horse blood. Because, you know? Horses are really strong.

Please join me in a collective sigh.

Lucky for me, Julio is a smart guy and he usually latches on to my lessons quickly, and can laugh at himself when I tell him frankly that his theory is way-off.

Bush medicine is still very popular in my community, and Julio`s wife´s uncle apparently had an herbal cure for cancer, which he distributed to Ngobes, gringos, latinos, and Afro-Antilleans alike who flocked to him. This magical recipe died with him, unfortuately, and it seems The World Will Never Know.

But in all seriousness, they do have success with a lot of herbal remedies for stomach upset, diarrhea, topical infections, snake bites and other such merriment that comes along with living in the campo. The medicines often work, and people only go to the clinic as a last resort. Those treatments have been along a lot longer than modern medicine, and are well-respected in the Bocas region. I would like to learn a lot more about what they use and how they know (one otherwise down-to-earth guy told me he dreams the cures). Of course, Peace Corps medical policy tells me I have to go to a real doctor, which is okay by me, because I don´t want to wait around for Green Plant Number 342 to kill my giardia.

But as I plan charlas about health education, it is important to incorporate both lines of thinking-- traditional herbal cures, and other modern ways they can treat common problems like diarrhea with rehydration drinks, etc. You have to start with what they already know, and build from there. No one will listen if I say everything they know is wrong. Because of course it isn´t. They will always know way more about what medicine the earth offers than I ever will. But the horse blood thing? I am definitely right about that.

Your questions answered!

A recent comment from someone who may or may not be my mother raised an interesting question relating to my work in site.

What part does the government of Panama play in the PC action? Who pays for
the pvc piping and cement and such?

Fabulous question, Anonymous Reader Mom! The government of Panama plays a HUGE role in PC action, and of course, the only reason we are allowed to be here is by their invitation. One of the keys to our sustainable development goals is that the people we work with are able to secure project funding on their own in the future. That is, from Panamanian agencies that dole out funds for projects in ways quite different from how we do it in the U.S.


Once we decide on a project to start working on, we form committees and train them in how to write formal letters to local agencies and what needs to be included in order to convince agency directors that community leaders can manage and plan their own projects. EH volunteers work principally with the Ministry of Health (MINSA), which provides funding for aqueduct systems and latrine projects, and ANAM, which is an environmental conservation agency which is currently pushing composting latrine projects throughout the Bocas region.


Individual contributions are usually required in some capacity, but it is rarely monetary. We might ask community members to provide all the labor in hauling supplies, assembling latrines, or mixing cement to repair tanks or spring boxes. Some PCVs have asked people to provide wood to finish the walls of a latrine, or zinc for the roof, but from what I´ve heard, many fail to do it if left to their own devices.

So PCVs first avenue is to look for funding through what we call ¨host-country agencies,¨ which includes government offices or non-profits. If this fails, and it often does because our timelines are limited and many agencies work at a-- shall we say-- more relaxed pace, we have another route. We can write Peace Corps grants and post them on the PC web site where families, friends, and others can donate to specific projects or just make an overal donation. Volunteers have success with these, and the money comes fast, but they are used as a last resort because it is obviously something that our community members could not do for themselves.


We can also work with other agencies to aquire more resources, collaborate in charlas, or as in the case with the Ministry of Economic and Social Development (MIDES), ask them to certify our charlas to increase attendance. (Women who are part of the Red de Oportunidades-- Panama welfare-- must attend a certain amount of workshops and activities to continue benfitting, and a certified charla from MIDES does the trick.

So what exactly is it that you are doing?

Up until now, I have written mostly about the relationships I´ve formed and the cultural adjustments I´ve made since arriving in site. Our first three months are dedicated to an in-depth community analysis and building trust and friendships within the community. This is an essential part of Peace Corps service and sustainable development. Communities must be able to think critically about the resources they have, what they need, and how they can acheive it for themselves. Decades of paternalism and the delivery of ¨projects¨ for which they neither had to work nor plan end only in more dependence on government agencies and NGOs to bring villages what they need. When people participate and work for something, success rates are much higher.

The cornerstone of Peace Corps and sustainable development revolves around the idea that I teach as I go along, and that the community participates, plans, and manages its own project with my help. If they do this, when I leave, the knowledge and skills they have gained will stay, and the can continue forward in the future.

It´s a great idea, but it´s harder than it sounds. There are plenty of people in my village who believe all gringos are bad guys, who still don´t invite me in when I come to pasear. Many children and adults alike thought I came to take their kids back to the United States to be sold. Some think gringos eat people. A fellow volunteer lives in a community where everyone thought she was a spy and didn´t want to share anything with her for fear of where the information was going.

I´ve come a long way in my community since I arrived at the end of October, but you can see why the first step of building relationships is so important. We are up against a lot of ugly history, cultural boundaries, and foundationless fear and rumors. The first step of our Environmental Health project framework is to motivate and organize community members. To help them form committees, understand how to run meetings effectively, and to get people to actively participate in their own development. People in my community rarely attend meetings, and those who do are the same people over and over. Most of these people view ¨the community¨as only the 30-ish houses nearest the road, and ignore the remaining 65 that are spread out over hills, across rivers, and as far as two hours or more from the street. To advise every house of a meeting requires at least four days of walking. The disperese nature of the community, and the overall lack or motivation and organization will be one of my biggest challenges.

Such work is the first goal of the Environmental Health framework. The other two revolve around water and sanitation. Depending on the needs of a community, EH volunteers may educate existing water committees about the maintenence of an aqueduct, basic aqueduct theory, trouble shooting, waterborne diseases and better managing of time, funds, and meetings. This is a huge felt need in QP, where broken pipes go unfixed for weeks, some houses connected to the aqueduct have been without water for months, and for the fun of the ick factor, our water reserve tanks have crabs and sometimes worms inside of them.

I attended my first water committee meeting this past week, and while it was an experience that was at times frustrating, and I still battle with Getting People to Listen To Me, it is also heartening because I know I have the ability and resources to help them in many important and sustainable ways. EH volunteers also help to plan for and design other water systems, be it aqueduct lines or rain-water catchment. About 70 percent of my community is without running water in their homes, and use springs, creeks or wells (many of which are extermely dubious) for drinking, cooking and wash water. I am still thinking about what can be done for these homes. They are all so spread out, it is impossible that one water system could serve them all, and they also lack organization of any kind. They tell me they want water, but they haven´t come to meetings, or done anything other than voice their need. Beginning to work with some leaders in small committees and planning for a future project, or at the least, rain-water catchment systems is something I hope to do as well, though as I see it now, it cannot be my first priority.

Santitation is the other element. EH volunteers educate about fecal-oral transmission pathways, and essentially, promoting the construction, proper use and maintenence latrines. In Bocas, living in an indigenous community, this is another element where cultural understanding is key. Most of our technical sanitation training revolved around building and promoting compositng latrines. In my community, only about 10 percent of houses (generous estimations) use latrines, and those are full or poorly maintained. All of them are pit latrines, and most of them have buckets of wash water to clean with after use. Toilet paper is used by only a few families, and the others have no interest in it becasue they feel cleaner using water.

Which is a problem for composting latrines, which must be kept dry. It is also a problem because so few houses have a nearby water source, so they are extremely unlikely to use composting latrines if they could just go to the creek, or in the woods, and wash afterwards. I am realistic about the fact that, right now, I know of only about five families who would properly use and maintain a composting latrine. For most, pit latrines are a better option. In time, many will be ¨ready¨ for composting latrines, but as of right now, few people have identified them as a priority.

I am running into a small problem because my counter part solicitied PC for the specific purpose of a compositing latrine project. He knows they are better for the environment, last longer, and of course produce a fabulous compost for the finca. I think he is unrealistic about the scope of a project we could undertake in QP, as he is comparing our situation to one in a nearby community where 35 latrines were built by a PC volunteer. But this is my job: assessment, and then education and promotion. I have plenty of time to gauge genuine interest (and not just what he claims when he went around and told everyone I was coming to work on composting latrines) and feasibile success rates. Many volunteers have built latrines in Bocas that went unused or were unfinished. I would hate to do that.

So that, in short, is what EH volunteers will do, and as I wrap up my community analysis, what I am imagining for my time here in Panama. As always, leave me questions in the comments.