Coliforms

I’ve put my translator, John, through a lot of shit during our time together.  Anyone who has read my previous posts probably detects that I’ve lost my patience with him and definitely said things that I shouldn’t have.  I’ve been bossy, in a bad way.  I’ve been motivational in a good way.  I’ve been rude.  And I’ve tried to always end our days on a good note.  That would prove to be more difficult on this occasion.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with other CHI contributors, @ShaunHarty wrote about his time in Arcahaie working on the clean water project.  First he went around testing all the different water sources for coliforms #PoopBugs.  The tests were positive everywhere they shouldn’t be, including the water I was drinking at the compound for ten weeks #UnstoppableGITract.  It became clear that the people were going to be collecting contaminated water.  We can’t stop that without partnering with the government to create a water system seen in the US #NotUpOurAlley.  So we did what we could.  We partnered with the Gadyen Dlo project to borrow their design and infrastructure to help out the local community.  Long story short, they distributed a crazy amount of buckets and helped set up this entire chlorine distribution market.  Community Health Initiative added four new Haitian employees and we are fairly confident that nearly 500 houses have clean water security that they did not have before #Ballin. 

I was in Arcahaie during the dry season earlier this year, so people didn’t really complain of diarrheal illnesses – although 20% of the houses surveyed reported recent diarrheal illness.  But, in speaking with them they offered insight into their struggles with clean water security during the rainy season.  They recognized that cholera, other diarrhea etiologies, and even malaria were much more common during the rainy season.  I could never get any person to specifically say it was because there was more fecal contamination of the drinking water, just that the water was “dirty.”  Looking at the river I would agree.  It almost looks like a dirt road. 

Although the water project is pretty much awesome the impact is limited if other issues are not addressed.  One of these is appropriate waste disposal.  Another CHIer, Mike Barthmann, has been working with Top Digue on some latrine.  He’s contacted a number of other NGOs that specialize in latrine design and implementation #PoopSpecialists.  Community meetings were called and small groups were encouraged to voice their opinion. 

And then my job was given to me.  My primary goal was to survey the local area about their water useage, latrine situation and a potential engineering project to connect them to other roads leading to markets.  Beyond this, Mike was pumped to check out one of the old latrines to see if they actually worked and broke down poop into compost.  And then Sandy struck.

Plans change in Haiti.  I already discussed this point in the Yellow Spotted Plague post.  So Mike was forced to cut his workweek short due to the weather and leave some work for me to complete.  So I donned my #FrogToggs rain jacket and headed over to Top Digue with Steve.  The hurricane rains were dying down, so this seemed like a perfect time to dig out a 3 year old latrine #PetrifiedPoop.  My dad always talks about being an archaeologist.  Perhaps I should tell him this is the training ground.

I don latex gloves, a surgical gown and a disposable mask and begin pulling rocks off of the latrine.  Steve helps and we carefully avoid the broken glass.  “Just one to two feet” of rocks cover the former hold of the latrine.  The process is slow going and my terrible back picked now as the perfect time to remind me of how badly it hates me.  Minutes pass and a young lady shows up with a borrowed shovel.  It is one of the same young ladies that cooked diri avek sauce pwa for me last time I was here.  We begin shoveling.  Every now and then one of us bends down to take a sniff to determine if we’ve struck brown gold yet or not.  A few Haitians take a turn with the shovel, but needless to say our effort and willingness to get face first into a shitter earned the blan some respect. 

The deeper we go the more we expect to see positive signs for life: worms, bugs, root systems, etc.  We don’t like to see non-degradable material like plastic, foil, clothes, tins, etc.  Compost latrines function by combining carbon-based material such as yard waste with fecal matter and allowing it to digest into combined sludgy dirt than can then be used as compost.  The compost is rich in most vitamins and minerals and studies have shown that unlike American fertilizer this product will actually leave the soil better than before.

We found two unmatched sandals, food wrappers, old clothes, and a mandible.  When I stumbled upon the teeth with the shovel the crowd of people got awful excited.  I had no idea what was being said, but I can only imagine it was some form of conjecture about the species of beast the bone and teeth came from.  My bet was on goat, which is a shame because usually they cook the entire head in their stew #Wasteful #NotSoTasty.

We shovel even deeper.  I’m about waste deep in the pooper at this point.  The rain has stopped and the sun is turning my scrub gown into a bright blue oven.  Sweat pours down my face as I take my turn with the shovel.  Just trying to earn the street cred I so desperately need for my own personal gratification.  I keep waiting to see something that will tell me definitively that the composting latrine was a success or a failure, but then I realized that the only “sign” we could possibly “see” is a layer of preserved human feces.  My stomach lurches.  Four years of medical school and I’m digging for poop #WhatADeal. 

I’m about waste deep.  Another local brings a long, metal rod filed on one end to produce a point.  John starts to break up some of the dirt so I can shovel it out of the hole and with one quick toss the pole drives two foot into the earth.  That seems like we just reached our make or break point.  I look at Steve to see if he registered the same thought.  Obviously he was light-years ahead of me.  “If there’s just soil on the pole I think it’s safe to say that the cold compost system worked.”  I pretended like I knew the difference between cold compost and hot compost and did what had to be done.  I pulled the pole out of the dirt, bent down, and took a big whiff of the brown material on the end of it.  No smell #ThankGod.  The peanut gallery was sent into giggling fits seeing me smell what they assumed would be a bunch of poop.  But we did not have poop.  We had soil.  This soil would probably create a welcoming environment for any plant that they decided to plant in it, as is our plan.  Hopefully our latrines won’t be twenty feet down and covered with three feet of rock.  We’ve got a long way to go yet before we start building, but we’re moving down the #CHIt road.