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The Solana Beach ECO Rotary Club (ECO) and the Cache Valley Morning Rotary Club (CVM) are cooperatively planning a Sanitation Project designed to build twenty latrines, which includes the Tippy-tap soap hand washing station (sample design attached). The recipient families live in the poor rural area of Kos Khel in Cambodia, where decent toilet facilities are big issues. In addition, each family will receive a ceramic water filter to provide clean drinking water. ECO Rotary will be manage the project through a partner NGO in Cambodia, Solidarity Fund For Rural Development (SFRD), which to date has constructed 65 latrines (photos of some of their previously completed latrines are included in this application). The project will be funded with $3,000 from CVM Rotary, $1,000 from the ECO Rotary and $1,000 from a District 5340 matching grant. The latrines are a "double-pit" system with an attached ceramic squatting base surrounded by a simple enclosure. The latrines will be constructed over a period of five months with the help of the families receiving the latrine. Education materials will be provided on proper hygiene and the importance of hand washing. Also five group training seminars will be conducted to give instructions to families on the use and maintenance of the ceramic water filter provided.
Promoting good health in Cambodia is an important undertaking. Good sanitation is essential for health and well being, but it's not the norm in rural Cambodia, where old habits of poor hygiene are still wide spread. Open fields are still used for elimination of body waste, and hand washing (mostly not done at all) would be with a basin of water, which tends to spread germs from one person to another. The result is the contamination of streams and soils, the spread of disease, high rates of infant and young child mortality, and heavy caseloads of diarrhea and other infections. According to the World Bank's Sanitation program (2008) and by other studies, only about 17% of Cambodian rural poor have access to improved facilities, and among the very poor, fewer than 5% have access to a decent toilet facility.
Attached photos show recipient families of the latrine/tippy-tap project built last year with District 5340 funds, and the ceramic water filter manufacturing process (water filters are made in Cambodia, providing local employment).
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