July 17
This is Team 1’s last day. The rain poured down this morning after the morning soccer game but before breakfast. We were treated by Fred Cheron to a lovely repast. We’re hoping the rain stays away long enough for us to get up to Lakadonie to visit the coffee growers and see the progress on the latest toilet.
Yesterday we had a wonderful day in Fon Deron where a team was making Arborloo covers. We visited half a dozen homes that are slated to receive the Arborloos. Fon Deron is a beautiful community of coffee farms, avocado and yam plantations. Most everyone had water cisterns, as there wasn’t any piped water in the village. The beauty of the area was really breath-taking, I hope I can post some photos on our return. We asked about hand-washing, and everyone we spoke to seems to understand the importance. The education does seem to be paying off, although actions speak louder than words – we still saw the workers eating with very dirty hands. Each time I travel with a bar of soap and try to model the behavior.
Today Nita got the centrifuge and microscope working. We looked at samples of filtered and unfiltered water, and didn’t see anything particularly ominous, although a very imperfect test. However a sample of compost that has been sitting out since February does appear to have some parasites in it. I hope to run a test on a sample that has remained dry that I was unable to bring home with me in February. It appears we have some work to do to make sure we are promoting safe practices for agriculture.
The work goes on….
kenbe fo!
gigi
