EcoLatrines for 20 Bolivian Families

Meet Dagger ( pronounced Dah-hare). He is a young man who worked with us in 2014 briefly building Ecological Composting Latrines.  We were impressed with his work and organization but he got a job to manage another project.  We enticed him this year by making him construction manager of all our projects.  When we hired him and then told him we did not want him to construct right away but rather to spend the first 3 weeks participating in the workshops that lead to construction. He looked at us a little oddly and said “ And you are going to pay me to participate in workshops?” For three weeks he worked with our experienced facilitator in workshops with the families who were to receive Eco Latrines. He participated in workshops on the dangers of excreta, the importance of washing your hands, personal and home hygiene, and did his own first workshop so that the families completely understood the structure, use and maintenance of the Eco Latrine. He did a great job!

After his first few weeks with us, he shared that he had never thought of projects in this way; to engage the participant in every step and to help them understand the why, how and potential results of good or bad sanitation. He never thought of teaching through fun, hands on activities. He said he was so impressed by how engaged the families were in each workshop and now he understood why we are so successful.

Carmen lives in the community where Dagger is now working.  She noted: “ It is very important to have a bathroom because what we have now (shallow pit latrines) creates a terrible odor and worms and other bad bugs and when the rains come it is very dangerous for the health of families. These new bathrooms are clean and pretty.” 

Although it is hard for Dagger to not pick up a trowel and slap on some cement, he is very respected by his coworkers and his construction team.

In all that we do we are always on the lookout for talented individuals who just need an opportunity. 

With just a month under his belt Dagger has already helped to facilitate numerous workshops and is actively engaged helping families learn and supervising the construction of 3 new eco-composting latrines. He is the right man for the job.