How to Build a Sit(ting)-House

Although we're still waiting for the grant funding to complete the community latrine project (go to: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.projdetail&projdesc=525-068 if you wish to donate!), we were able to build a few using the donated materials mentioned before, as well as some borrowed cement from a local community member. While we dont have pictures of the latrine floor at this time (just picture a cement slab with a hole in the middle) this is our first latrine house, and almost completes this latrine save for the roof which will come when we get the money.




First you must locate a good site for your latrine sit-house. Here we use the age-old art of divination, but instead of a forked stick, we find that a live chicken held upside-down works best.


















The fun starts. Once the site is located a three-meter deep hole must be dug by pick-ax and shovel. It is unbelievably good exercise, but can leave one wanting for the heavy machinery we are so used to in the States. There aint no backhoes hea!















Amanda paying her dues in the mine shaft...er, latrine hole. In this picture she is about two and a half meters down and loving it!
















After the hole is dug, you must pour the cement floor (we apologize for the lack of cement floor pictures) and then harvest the posts and wall materials for its enclosure. Here Amanda hauls a 20-yards length of bamboo to the worksite. While she may look relaxed in this picture, the bamboo-hauling stage was possibly one of the more greuling stages of the whole process; they are very heavy and usually found deep in the jungle from where they must be carried out by hand.







The bamboo is split with a machete into roughly meter-length pieces. In the background you can see th wood frame of our latrine house.

















One by one, side-by-side, the walls go up.
















Almost there! Brian and Felix Jr. ("Polo," just like the fragrance, in Ngabere) put the finishing slabs one the latrine's rear wall. Note how skinny Brian has become and how his pants no longer fit well. Great picture...just great.

















The (almost) finished latrine house. Only lacking the roof, the latrine is immediately usable for the duration of the dry season (the roof will allow more comfortable rainy-season usage) and should last 10-15 years at this location. With the cement floor, we included some heavy-duty handles that allows the whole thing to be moved to another future hole once this one is filled, extending the overall lifetime of this latrine by 15-20 years more.








Finally relax, satisfied with a job well done. Felix, our community counterpart, taking a rare breather from working hard with his nephew, Aldemar.