Today we planned to walk around Langrug with a map that CORC
had given us to look at the current toilets and taps and update their
records. Alfred, a member of the
community who helps Trevor in its management met us when we arrived and showed
us around. It was not nearly as cold as
the previous day, though it rained off and on while we were there. We first toured Zwelitsha, which as I
mentioned in an earlier post, has only one water tap for about 500 families and
no working toilets. It is located geographically
above the rest of the community, and thus it is difficult to pump water to this
neighborhood. Here is a picture of the
only functioning water tap. As visible
below, the spout is broken and the water flows freely.
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| The working water tap in Zwelitsha |
There are two blocks of concrete where a dry toilet facility
may be able to be placed. Alfred seemed
under the impression that CORC had plans for this facility and it would be
coming soon. We looked at all the other
toilet blocks in the rest of Langrug, which are in various states of disrepair
due to vandalism and misuse.
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| Children swing on water pipes behind toilet blocks |
 |
| Picture from 2011 project. Photo from WPI IGSD Website |
A sobering moment for me came when we looked at a facility
in E section. If you have ever been to
the WPI website, you have probably seen a picture of this facility. In 2011, a group of students worked to reduce
vandalism and improve the atmosphere of this particular toilet and laundry
facility by implementing educational paintings around the facility. They also designed and implemented a foot
pedal operated water tap that would reduce the spread of germs caused by
operation of taps with unclean hands.
Below is a picture of the facility now, only two years after
it was improved. The woman’s face is
blacked out because she did not wish to be photographed, and was scowling at us
while we were there. The water tap is
also now broken. The foot pedal had apparently
broken off, as had the makeshift solution the community had tried to
implement.
 |
| The same laundry sinks in 2013 |
 |
| Alfred with the broken water tap |
I do not personally know anyone in
the 2011 group, but if I did I would not know how I would tell them about
this. I don’t know how I would feel
knowing that a project I’ve put this much work into has fallen into disrepair
and does not have the lasting effects we had intended. I experience a moment of fear that will
happen with our project. Yet I also look
at the most recent facility that is now thriving due to the efforts of the 2012
team. We cannot know whether our project
will be a success. Yet whatever we leave
behind, regardless of how long it lasts, we are creating incremental change in
the mindset of the community. We are
giving them hope of better facilities. Though
children today may not receive the educational experience intended by this particular
facility, the children smiling in the 2011 picture did for a time, and continue
to hope for better toilets and taps.
Rather than worry about the success of our project, we will work to
advance the hope of those children and of the goals of the project centre.
As we continued our journey
through Langrug, Alfred (and later Trevor) pointed out three areas where they
would like to see a second multipurpose WaSH facility. They are determined to have more like the one
created last year. However, we notice
that the plots large enough for such a facility are already near existing
toilets. We arrive back to the central
facility to find the caretakers with whom we had previously bonded preparing lunch
for us. The menu consisted of grilled
chicken and African salad, with spinach picked from a garden planted by the
AIDS support group. We are touched by their generosity and eagerness to share
the little they have. We do not know how
to thank them (literally – we spent five minutes trying to learn the proper
pronunciation for “Thank you” in Xhosa, much to their amusement. Enkosi kakhulu.)
We left for the day, and intended
to finish our writing for the week once we got home. However, while we were driving back in the
hired van we got a call from Olwethu, one of our liaisons at CORC. He said that he and the other two CORC
representatives we have been working with wanted to meet with our advisors and
us at the lodge. Confused, we told them
when we would be back and called Scott (our advisor) to let him know. The meeting was very productive since we were
able to talk about what we learned today.
In addition, we discovered that the dry toilet facilities in Zwelitsha
are not as guaranteed as Alfred and Trevor may think. There are actually a lot of different factors
and complications with this facility that need to be resolved before it can be
built. From what we have seen in
Langrug, we decided as a team that we would find it more worthwhile and
fulfilling to work on this dry sanitation facility rather than the second WaSH
facility that the community leaders want.
Our advisors and liaisons agreed.
Next week we will finish our assessment of the WaSH facility in a formal
report and cost analysis. However, we
will use this information to design a dry sanitation facility in the area where
there are no toilets.
As productive as this meeting was,
Baraka, Sizwe, and Olwethu were not intending to work on business. They all
work very hard, but have also been encouraging us all week to loosen up and have
fun with them. The goal of their visit
today was to have a beer with us and to bond socially. Wanting to stay in their good favor, we
obliged.
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