Stories of Change

Top: Esmerelda cooking on her eco stove. Middle: Esmerelda and her 8-year-old son Diego in front of their house. Bottom: Esmerelda harvesting yucca.

From Stoves to Gardens to Water to Livestock, Esmerelda’s Family is Thriving

Preparing chicken soup with basil, oregano and green bananas or the fried fish that her son and husband like is now so much easier for 27-year-old Esmerelda Robles. Today she uses less firewood, cooks food faster and saves time preparing meals in her kitchen. 

Before, her house was covered in soot (hollín), a black, very fine and greasy substance that forms from smoke and sticks to surfaces. “Before, I had a permanent cough,” Esmerelda says. “Now, with just a load of firewood, you cook, you don’t need much (unlike the stove we had before), and it is very helpful for our lungs that there is no smoke.”

This is one of the advantages of the eco-stove that she and 58 other families have installed in their homes to prepare meals without increasing environmental pollution. The most important contribution of eco-stoves, however, is the significant reduction in the use of firewood. This is one part of a CWS program to improve food security and adapt to climate change. Our local partner who developed the program is CASM (or, in English, Mennonite Social Action Commission).

This program is unfolding in Macuelizo, Nueva Frontera and Azacualpa, all of which are in the department of Santa Bárbara, Honduras. In total, 500 families from rural areas with limited economic resources participate in different parts of the program. 

Esmeralda lives in Vainillas, in Macuelizo. The weather is warm, but the mornings are often chilly. In her community, there are about 50 houses located near a pine forest and large tamarind and mango trees. After traveling several highways and paths, you can see the green house where Esmeralda lives with her husband Rigoberto and her son Diego. Esmerelda calls Vainillas, “a beautiful place with friendly people, with good coexistence. We all know each other because we have always been there. I was born and raised here.”

Through a “pass chain” activity in the program, Esmeralda received several foster animals. This activity consists of a family receiving a pregnant pig, sheep or cow and feeding and caring for it. When the next piglet, lamb or calf is born, it is passed on to another family, which in turn will do the same. Today, Esmeralda has a pregnant sow, three sheep and 30 chickens.

Other CWS-supported initiatives in the community where Esmeralda lives include the installation of pipes for the drinking water (previously, families had limited access to water) cultivating tilapia and raising cows, sheep and chickens.

Esmeralda has participated in training sessions about planting crops and producing fertilizers, received seeds and nowadays produces most of the food that her family eats like ripe plantain, cushaw pumpkin (ayote), chili peppers and yucca. In addition to feeding her family, she sells her produce or exchanges it with neighbors. She and her family also learned about food and nutrition, hygiene, waste management and environmental protection.

When we talked to Esmerelda in late 2021, she was planning for Christmas. Her family was going to prepare tamales with meat (it is a traditional meal that has a corn base and a filling of vegetables, potatoes and pork, served wrapped in banana or plantain leaves). “Here, we always spend the holidays as a family,” she says. “We go to church–we are Catholic–so we go there and then we come together to share a dinner.”

The next project at Esmeralda’s house is to get a biodigester to make better use of decomposing organic matter waste (such as animal excrement) and produce methane gas. “A dream we have as a family is to have a micro-business or a sale and production of meat. The first thing we are going to do is buy the freezer,” says Esmeralda and adds that with the money they get, they plan to expand the house, which today has two rooms.

(Note: In this program in Macuelizo, everyone has already received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Masking and common handwashing are standard. We would also like to thank Growing Hope Globally for their support of this program.)

Stories of Change

Maribel tends to her new vegetables.

Crop Diversity and Irrigation Mean Better Food Security for Maribel’s Family

When she first joined a CWS food security program through our local partner, CIEETS, the only crop that Maribel Espinoza Bermudez had was corn and occasionally beans. 

Maribel represented one of 292 families from the San Antonio community in the Carazo region of Nicaragua who are participating in this holistic food security program. She joined activities and training sessions and then received fruit plants and seeds to expand her production and eventually improve her family’s nutrition and food security. Diversity is a key component of this program; when families are growing lots of different crops, one bad harvest or failed planting season doesn’t have as much of a negative impact on their livelihoods. Plus, a diversified diet leads to better nutrition.

“Thank God we are part of the CIEETS project,” Maribel says. She lives with her husband Ines Mendieta, 54, and her children Anabel, 39, Orlando, 23, Josueska, 17, and Silvia, 12. “Thanks to the Pastor of the Nazarene Church, the CIEETS program came to my community and my family life. I praised and blessed His name.” 

In addition to crop diversification, Maribel and her family also focused on irrigation. They received a plastic water storage tank, which extends their growing season each year. They are no longer limited to only the rainy season. “We learned how to produce with irrigation. Anything we harvest is welcome, this is the basis of our livelihood,” she says. She also expresses gratitude that the project helped her replace a latrine that had reached the end of its useful life. Guaranteeing access to safe water, irrigation, sanitation and hygiene is another of the strategies to strengthen food security in the area. This is especially important in areas like her community, which has low levels of coverage in basic services. 

Maribel added that her husband often tries to find work in construction to earn extra money for the family. Unfortunately, opportunities are rare and low-paying, and both the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020 only made it worse. This means that the skills that Maribel developed and the support her family has received have been even more critical. 

“May the Lord increase the blessings on the CIEETS project, and on each of the brothers and sisters and their families who dedicate resources to our support, we also tell them those good things come from above and hands that give, never they will come back empty,” Maribel says.

Thanks to Growing Hope Globally for their support of this program.

Stories of Change

A newly-poured concrete road in the village of Mee Thew Chaung, Myanmar.

Paved Roads Make Travel Easier in Myanmar

Maubin Township in Myanmar is in the Ayeyarwady River delta. Every year, the river floods. This is leading to riverbank erosion that impacts homes, community buildings and farmland. It’s so extreme that in some cases villages move every 7-10 years!

Since 2018, CWS has worked with a dozen communities near Maubin to focus on Disaster Risk Reduction. This means putting systems and infrastructure in place that will prevent disasters or lessen the severity of their impact. By the start of 2022, 17 villages had participated in activities from emergency drills to road repair work. Most recently, communities have partnered with CWS to install solar electricity at public buildings such as evacuation centers and heath posts.

For communities that deal with flooding and other challenging weather conditions, road renovation is an opportunity to make life a lot easier. Dirt paths – often marked with sizeable holes and usually muddy or flooded between June and September – are the most common transportation routes among villages and to larger towns and cities. For many communities, safe and reliable roads are the second most priority (the first is year-round access to safe water). Roads mean the ability to get to schools, markets, health centers and temples. The existing paths, though, are dusty when the weather is dry and rainy when it’s wet. By paving a road, you make it safer and cleaner. You also enable people to go faster, since many people use bikes or motorbikes. 

Our team knows that with reasonable training, village volunteers can team up with skilled masons to transform their dirt paths to paved roads. It can be done quickly and with a minimal investment. The more durable way to do this, which CWS helped communities start doing in 2021, is to pour concrete footpaths that are three feet side and four inches thick. When a community decides to do this, CWS funds the purchase of cement, gravel and sand. Each 1,000 feet of paved road uses 130 bags of cement, 1,000 cubic feet of gravel and 750 cubic feet of sand. It takes about three hours of construction time for each 100 feet of road work. Communities organize volunteers to do the construction work. Skilled masons (paid by CWS) lead the volunteers through the construction. Each foot of construction costs $1.40. 

Building roads may not be glamorous, but it means a huge increase in the quality of life of the people who use them. It takes less fuel for a motorbike to use a smooth, paved road, so it’s less expensive for families to get goods to market. Sick children or adults can reach health centers faster and in more comfort, and it’s easier for them to travel farther to district hospitals for more advanced care. Running errands and getting to school are also much easier and more convenient. 

Ko Tun Min, who lives in Ta Khun Taing village, said, “Our village road was muddy in the rainy season, and it is very risky to walk around. Our elders and pregnant women dare not to go outside during rainy season as they are worried about falling. Although we planned for improving the roads in the past, we simply did not have the funds to do it. However, now our village road is better than before, which allows us to travel more safely during the day and night for all activities from getting to work and markets, to attending schools and reaching health posts for medical treatment.”

Stories of Change

Top: Surveying a damaged house after the earthquake. Middle: Metal sheets and other supplies are delivered to affected areas. Bottom: A repaired house.

Safe Homes for Families in Rwanda after Eruption and Earthquake

On May 22, 2021, Mount Nyiragongo erupted. The volcano is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the border with Rwanda. The eruption and resulting earthquakes caused emergencies in both countries, forcing thousands of families from their homes.

CWS is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of organizations that, among other things, respond to emergencies. Our team joined the ACT Alliance response to Mount Nyiragongo’s eruption. While our partners responded in the DRC, we focused on helping families in Rwanda who had lost their houses. More than 1,500 houses in Rwanda were destroyed in the earthquakes that were linked to the eruption.

“We lived a risky life [after the eruption and earthquakes],” says Hairoy Niyombabazi, who lives in Rwanda’s Rubavu District. “Our house was damaged–when it rained, we slept in a corner of the house with our things and we couldn’t sleep well…we were afraid of the rain because we were scared that the remaining walls would fall on us too while we were sleeping.”

Her neighbor Issa Basesayabo added, “Sometimes it would rain with so much wind that I decided to sleep in the same room with the kids to avoid the risk of waking up and finding that the walls have fallen on them.”

“I was always sidestepping visits because I was ashamed of our damaged house,” notes Amina Batamuriza.

No one should live like this. No one should huddle with their children at night, praying that the walls that are supposed to keep them safe might wound them instead. In partnership with YWCA Rwanda, and with support from Week of Compassion, our team stepped in to help. We provided materials and construction support to 69 families whose homes had been destroyed in the earthquake. Today, those families are living in safe, sturdy new homes.

“We got the support of iron sheets and cement and we repaired our damaged houses. We are satisfied,” Hairoy says. “We had no hope to repair our houses. We were just waiting for Jehovah’s grace. He heard and he responded to us through your material aid.”

“My children now have their rooms because of your help,” Issa added. “I am very happy to see my children sleeping in their room again.”

Amina has a message for the CWS family: “You saved our lives! God bless you! May God bless you forever! I will pray to God for you to be refunded in turn.”

Stories of Change

Tamar stands next to some of her cooperative's produce in their cool storage area.

Catching Up With an Old Friend in Georgia

“I live in the village of Kheta in the western part of Georgia,” says Tamar Chumburidze. “I am a mother of three and have two grandchildren. We all live together and our main source of income is a small plot of land where we grow [bay] laurel trees, vegetables and fruit for sale. The income we make is hardly enough to make ends meet and cover basic needs.”

Tamar’s story is all too common in her remote, rural community. Many of her neighbors, especially women, struggle to find jobs or earn a living. There’s also another challenge for families here that compounds everything else: a lack of energy sources. Every day, women and children in particular have to try to find firewood or other biomass that they can burn to heat their homes and cook meals. It’s simply too expensive to try to use gas or electricity to meet even these basic needs.

“The main problem for our family is trying to get fuel to heat the house and cook meals, to sell the fruits and vegetables, to get some inputs to sustain our livelihood. It is very hard to haul heavy firewood every day and travel long distances with such a load. I often get a pain in my knees and my back. In addition, expenses for gas and electricity comprises some 30% of our scarce incomes,” Tamar explained when we were getting to know her.

Several years ago, CWS and our partner Rural Community Development Association teamed up with Tamar and her neighbors to overcome these challenges. Tamar explained, “Thanks to the [CWS]-supported project, we became well aware that if we need to change our lives, we need to do it ourselves. With the support of the program, and together with my neighbors, we initiated a women’s cooperative in our community and organized a drying and cool storage facility for fruits and vegetables that we cultivate on our small plots of land.” Tamar is the head of the women’s cooperative. She and her team use renewable energy (industrial-scale solar dryers) to dry the fruits and vegetables, which they can sell to earn a living.

In 2019, the cooperative was able to add a cool storage facility that the women could use to store their fruits and vegetables to dry later. By waiting until the off season, when demand for dried fruits and vegetables are higher, they could earn more income from their sales.

When we talked to Tamar last year, she told us that every member of the cooperative earned about $210 through the project in 2020. She called it “substantial money during the economic hardship period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” She said at the time, “My neighbors and I know that Christmas and the new year will be happy for us and our families, as we’ll have enough fuel for heating and cooking, but also we’ll be able to afford presents for our children and family.”

A year later, in late 2021, we checked in with Tamar again. She proudly told us that the cooperative is still going strong. There are nine women employed at the moment, each of whom earns about $1,420 per year of additional income for their families. “Thanks to the involvement with the cooperative, I have so much more motivation for everything,” Tamar said. “I strive to work better and provide for my family. It also helped me to recover after my husband passed away last year. I managed to become active in social life again thanks to the support I got from colleagues.”

Thank you, CWS family, for walking alongside women like Tamar. Your support has been a lifeline during dark times and a source of joy and hope in the brighter ones.

Stories of Change

Medical staff talk to patients on the first day of the 12-day mobile clinic in Pestel.

Bringing Healthcare to Remote Communities as Part of Earthquake Response in Haiti

Everyone should be able to access medical care if they need it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hurdles between many of our neighbors and the care that they need.

On the morning of Saturday, August 14, 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti. Its epicenter was in the southwest, not far from the municipality of Pestel. More than 2,200 people died. Thousands were injured. Fields that had been ready for harvest were destroyed. Buildings collapsed.

There is only one health center that serves Pestel’s 97,000 residents. It was damaged in the quake, and the medical team hasn’t been able to treat patients inside of it since. The health center staff has been seeing patients in the yard, but even then, many traumatized people are scared to make the journey to the hospital. Older adults, pregnant women and people with disabilities often had challenges getting to the hospital before the earthquake, and now it’s even harder.

Our team on the ground in Pestel knew that treating injuries, monitoring mental health and offering other medical services had to be a priority after the earthquake. We met with departmental authorities, local authorities, managers of the health center of Pestel and people across Pestel in order to conduct a Rapid Needs Assessment. Together, we decided that a mobile health clinic could bring desperately-needed care to locations around Pestel. If people can’t or won’t go to the hospital, we can bring the hospital services to them.

On November 29, the mobile health clinics began. It was the first day of a 12-day tour to 12 locations across Pestel. The team of professionals in each location included two doctors, four nurses (including a midwife specialist), two social workers, an organizer and a driver. The mobile clinics are focusing on caring for often-overlooked groups who have trouble accessing medical care: pregnant women, older adults, children and people with disabilities. The team is also prepared to offer initial mental health support to patients in need. The 12 clinic locations were chosen for two reasons: 1) they are central so that people in even more remote areas can reach them and 2) they are not covered by other healthcare options.

In planning the clinics, our goal was to see about 140 patients in each location. For comparison, the hospital was treating about 30 patients a day before the earthquake. What we quickly realized, though, is that the mobile clinics were more popular than anticipated. On the first day, we saw 205 people. On the second and third days we saw 132 and then 317 people. That was an average of about one and a half times as many people as we expected. The hospital sent additional staff starting on the third day to meet the increased demand. The first three days of mobile clinics show how much the community needs medical care and that the mobile clinics are a great way for people living in remote areas to get medical care.

The mobile clinics are one part of the partnership between CWS and the Pestel health center as we collaborate to support the people of Pestel on the road to health and recovery. Learn more about the CWS earthquake response here or donate here.

——–
We are grateful for the support of the CWS family and our valued partners in the August earthquake response. We would like to thank Episcopal Relief and Development, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Church of the Brethren, the United Church of Christ, Week of Compassion and the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. Our ACT Alliance partners, alongside generous congregational, individual and foundation supporters, are also making this response possible.

Stories of Change

A facilitator leads a group of students through an exercise as part of the mental health sessions at the public school of Cassavon.

In Haiti, Mental Health is Important in Earthquake Recovery

Students at the public school of Cassavon in Haiti’s Pestel municipality have been through a lot in the last few years. We first got to know this community following Hurricane Matthew five years ago. Cassavon was one of the public schools that CWS helped rebuild after the storm. We also helped build homes for local families whose houses had been badly damaged or destroyed. Then, in the last couple of years, Haiti has plunged deeper and deeper into political unrest and economic turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic has not spared Haiti, either, and the economic fallout of closed borders and shutdowns has been devastating.

On the morning of Saturday, August 14, 2021, another disaster struck. A 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti, its epicenter not far from Pestel. More than 2,200 people died. Thousands were injured. Fields that had been ready for harvest were destroyed. Buildings collapsed.

We are proud to say that the public school of Cassavon stood strong through the quake, as did all of the houses that CWS helped families build. That’s about the extent of the good news, though. Families in Pestel are once again struggling to cope. Our initial surveys showed that there are huge needs for necessities like shelter and water. The CWS family is responding, and you can learn more about that here.

For now, though, let’s focus on the students at the public school of Cassavon. This earthquake was the latest in a series of traumatic events that they were trying to process. Within a few weeks, it was clear that their young minds and bodies were struggling under the weight of deep stress and anxiety. Mental health had to be a priority alongside the other elements of our relief effort.

In October, we organized two sessions for the students at Cassavon. A total of 139 children participated in a two-part program. It was split into two three-hour sessions on back-to-back Fridays. The objective was to help students find the words to talk about their mental health and then to offer activities and outlets to help them feel calmer and more hopeful.

The lessons varied based on the students’ ages, but they followed a basic pattern. In group sessions, students learned the words for lots of different emotions that they could use to describe how they were feeling. They learned about how there are variations and mixtures for emotions, and they might even be feeling something that we don’t have words for yet. They did deep breathing exercises and learned about basic meditation and mindful listening. They talked about things that they felt hopeful about. They also danced and did exercises like jumping rope or stretching. All of these are things that they could do again on their own or show to their families to do at home, too.

Students ranked how they were feeling before and after the sessions, and we saw a dramatic rise from start to finish. Students showed an interest in having these sessions as a regular part of their school week and said that they would continue to practice at home when they feel tense. Some students who were really struggling were identified for deeper follow up support.

Following the success of these sessions at Cassavon, we are planning similar workshops in nine other schools across Pestel. We are also holding training sessions for teachers to better understand and accompany children and for community leaders so that they can learn how to lead these sessions and hold them for other groups and prevent domestic or community violence.

After the training, the consultants told us that the best advice they would give organizations working in similar situations is that people need more than just financial or material support. They need support rebuilding their mental health and resilience, which enable people to cope on their own with the realities of life. “Organizations that support teachers and students must continue to do so, because they are the real engines of social revival,” they said.

The road to recovery from this earthquake will be a long one. As physical infrastructure and systems are rebuilt, minds and bodies will need to be healed, too. Thank you, CWS family, for bringing some hope and peace back to the students at the public school of Cassavon and to many of our other neighbors in Haiti.

——–
We are grateful for the support of the CWS family and our valued partners in the August earthquake response. We would like to thank Episcopal Relief and Development, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Church of the Brethren, the United Church of Christ, Week of Compassion and the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. Our ACT Alliance partners, alongside generous congregational, individual and foundation supporters, are also making this response possible.

Stories of Change

Gustavo (Border Referral Specialist) and Kathy (The Inn volunteer) deliver meals to families who are staying in hotel rooms as they prepare to meet their family members in destination communities. Middle: a bed in a hotel room for an asylum seeking family. Children are given a stuffed animal when they arrive. Bottom: The Inn staff and volunteers wrote “Welcome” in English, Spanish and Portuguese on the window of the room of a newly-arriving family.

A Warm Welcome to The Inn for Asylum Seekers in Arizona

On Monday, November 15, our border services team met Daniela* and Luis* at The Inn in Tucson, Arizona. The Inn is a shelter for asylum seekers, and Daniela and Luis had been there for four days with their three children. The family was hoping to find a way to pay for their transportation from Tucson to Chicago and had been there since the Friday before. “Friday was the first night that we were able to sleep in six days. We were able to shower with warm water,” Daniela told us.

Daniela’s family had run out of money, and they hadn’t been able to arrange affordable transportation for the whole family to get to Chicago yet. They were waiting for help.

Our team communicated with them in both English and Spanish. Daniela and Luis shared that their family was escaping from Venezuela, where Luis served as a funcionario (government official). Daniela told us, “My husband was a government official in Venezuela. One day we had to escape if we wanted to keep living.” She and Luis both mentioned that the political climate in Venezuela pushed their family to leave their whole lives behind from one day to the next. “It’s not easy. We left everything behind. Our family, our home, our careers. Now we have to start all over,” said Luis.

When we asked them about their experience at The Inn, the couple said that they were extremely grateful for Gustavo and the rest of the shelter staff, who had welcomed them and their family with respect and care. “They have welcomed us extremely well. Everyone has taken care of the kids and their needs,” they said. We learned that the shelter staff had provided the kids with toys and coloring materials during their time at the shelter.

Daniela and Luis underscored that their story is only one of thousands and that they had been lucky to make it to the United States alive. While they mentioned that everyone had been welcoming and respectful, Daniela said she hopes people will understand that her family, like many others, are escaping from precarious conditions that endanger their lives. “We just want to live, we want people to understand that we came out of necessity, not to invade, but to live,” she said.

————————–
CWS supports shelters like The Inn along the U.S.-Mexico border. Asylum seekers arrive in these shelters after they have been released from federal detention. They are welcomed with hot meals, beds, showers and other support. In partnership with UMCOR, CWS supports Border Referral Specialists in many shelters, who help asylum seekers understand the spectrum of services available in the town or city where they are going. We are proud to walk alongside asylum seekers at every stage of their asylum journey in the United States. This includes supporting border shelters, operating a call center for asylum seekers and providing services such as case management and legal assistance in destination cities.

*Names changed to protect the identities of people who are still in the process of seeking asylum.

Stories of Change

Top: Oy works on a motorbike repair job. Bottom: Oy and Kong in the shop.

A motorbike repair business means new hope for Oy

“Living in poverty was already hopeless, but life got harder when I lost my leg in a landmine accident,” Ouk Oy says. The 64-year-old father of four adult children lives with his wife, Sreng Kong, in western Cambodia. 

Oy and Kong rely on Kong’s income as a seasonal wage laborer in order to make ends meet. She could earn about $5 a day at a nearby corn farm. Oy told us, “before participating in a CWS program, my family didn’t have enough to eat. I borrowed rice or money to buy rice, and I worked as a wage laborer to repay the debt.” 

Oy had dreams and plans for a more stable income for his family. He and Kong live on the grounds of a Trauma Care Foundation property. The couple doesn’t own land, so the TCF allowed him to build a small home on their land. Oy also took a class on repairing motors through the TCF, but he could never afford the costs of starting a business. 

CWS works with the Khmer Community Development Association to reach families like Oy’s in this part of Cambodia. The goal of our Promoting Better Lives program is to help people with the information or resources to meet their basic needs, whether it’s a sanitary bathroom, a business start-up grant or something else. The KCDA team met with Oy and Kong to talk about their priorities and find out what the best way to support them was. Oy talked about his motor repair skills and his desire to start a business repairing motorbikes. CWS provided a $350 start-up grant so that he could buy tools and spare parts to get his shop going. 

Today, not only do Oy and Kong have a much more stable income, but Oy has a renewed confidence and sense of purpose. “I am so happy and proud of myself; I never ever thought that I could afford to have my own business. I never expected this opportunity in my life, to run a service shop with a better and stable income,” he says. Oy now makes $250-300 per month through the shop. 

“I can’t thank you enough for the support, as I now have a certain job to support my family. My wife doesn’t need to go out and sell her labor, we have enough to eat, and we can allocate some savings to expand my repair shop,” he added. 

Stories of Change

So and her children with the family's new sanitary latrine.

Building Latrines in Nam Vai Village Vietnam

In the village of Nam Vai, high in the mountains of Phuc Than commune in Vietnam, 80 families from the Mong ethnic minority group live with minimal access to water and sanitation. As of June 2021 only 10 families in the village had latrines, with most villagers relieving themselves daily along streams and forest edges.

Trang Thi So, 27, and her family never had a latrine. She and her husband Van A Lu often used the stream bank as a bathroom. Their three children, ages 10, 9 and 5, went to the bushes near their house.

In July, CWS hosted a community-led total sanitation start-up in the village. So attended the activation session and realized the importance of building sanitary latrines. 

“In the past, not many families in the village had latrines. Most of us defecated freely, so we felt normal. Through attending the session, I realized that we were doing it badly, not only unhygienic for the community but also for my own family. So, I signed up to build a sanitary latrine for my family right in the event,” said So.

In August CWS hosted a technical training to guide the villagers on how to build a low-cost sanitary latrine that suits well with family economic conditions, customs and habits of the people in Nam Vai village. Lu actively participated and was nominated by the people to build latrines for the village.

Thanks to Lu’s work, in partnership with CWS, So’s family now has a sanitary latrine. When asked why he didn’t build latrine before, Lu said that he didn’t realize why he had to build latrine, didn’t have technical skills and thought it would cost a lot of money. Now with technical instructions and a mold provided by the project, it is quick and simple to do. He told us that the latrine materials cost him only 2 million Vietnamese Dong, or about $88 USD, to buy bricks, sand, stone, a squat toilet and water pipe. He and he villagers provided the labor to dig holes, make concrete rings, and build the walls themselves.

So confided: “We had not built a latrine because almost no one in the village did it, and I just wandered around. It was very difficult in rainy days because of slippery paths and bad smell. In dry season, it was very embarrassing because there is no vegetation to cover, it is easy to see each other and shy when doing open defecation. Now I have a latrine, my life is much better.”

According to Lu, about a month after the CWS project, the village’s six-person team built 60 underground tanks, and 10 families made the upper part themselves to complete the latrines. During this time people in the village are busy harvesting rice, but after the harvesting they will focus on finishing the latrines.

Nam Vai village now has a plan to have 100% families build latrines to achieve open-defecation free status by December 2021.

Collected by Tran Van Thang, CWS Field Officer; Written by Nguyen Van Ty, WASH Program Officer